In mid-September 2024, the second season of the project "From Spring to Ocean. Lighthouses" of the Unified Volunteer Centre of the Murmansk Region was completed. For two months, volunteers painted, plastered, cleaned and tended to the Teriberka Lighthouse, restoring the century-old structure's freshness and vibrant colours. This was quite a challenging undertaking—access to the cape is only possible by water, the work is labour-intensive, and the weather in the North is hardly forgiving, even in summer. Nevertheless, today the lighthouse has gained a completely new appearance. To be precise, 300 kg of paint and 22 tons of plaster were used for the repairs. Last year, 50 people gave a fresh look to the Kashkarantsy Lighthouse in the south of the Kola Peninsula. 

There are more than a dozen lighthouses in the Murmansk Region, including Vaydagubsky, Tsypnavolotsky, Setnavolotsky, Kildinsky-Severny, Teribersky, Russky, Kharlovsky, Svyatonosky, Gorodetsky, Tersko-Orlovsky, Veshnyak, Sosnovetsky and others. Some of them were built as early as the 19th century—the Svyatonosky lighthouse began operation in 1862 and has been serving ever since, undergoing repairs and upgrades from century to century. The wooden building has remained in its original state, but the equipment and staff have changed. Today, it operates in automatic mode, continuing to warn ships about the sheer cliffs of Cape Svyatoy Nos. To see what was happening with the historic building, a proper expedition had to be organised under the auspices of the Russian Geographical Society (RGS)—the oldest lighthouse in the country, listed as a cultural heritage site of federal significance, is situated at a respectful distance from civilisation.

Meanwhile, many lighthouses on the Kola Peninsula are in need of repair and maintenance. Located far from populated areas, they are gradually succumbing to the harsh nature of the Barents Sea and require care. Moreover, people want to visit them—this year, the lighthouses have been included in the tourism development plan for the Murmansk Region until 2030. Unique engineering structures require maintenance; they need repairs and landscaping of the surrounding area. The lighthouses with keepers are largely still holding up, but the autonomous buildings are gradually starting to deteriorate.

The development of the tourism industry could breathe new life into the semi-forgotten lighthouses—the number of offerings in the excursion market of the Murmansk Region is in the dozens. Tour operators skilfully combine trips to the lighthouse with birdwatching, observing coastal wildlife and fishing, should guests wish to partake. In those areas, there are usually no settlements, but you can find loons nesting, seals basking on the shore and occasionally spot a whale. The journey to the lighthouse itself becomes an adventure. Some sites are accessible only by sea, while others require an all-terrain vehicle or a snowmobile, and particularly adventurous enthusiasts prefer to reach the destination on foot. A couple of days of hiking through the tundra with a backpack gives unforgettable impressions and a lasting scent of romance, especially when you take off your boots by the campfire.

Tour operators prefer to take groups to automated or abandoned lighthouses—tourists can be shown the ins and outs of the hydrographic service's work in the past and informed about the present. Access to functioning sites is prohibited for ordinary people—the lighthouse keeper and their team did not venture to the ends of the earth to entertain passersby with conversation. Moreover, expensive equipment and important documents require a degree of privacy. However, there is a chance that habits will need to be partially altered. The development of the tourism sector will likely open the doors of institutions, even if only on rare occasions.

As for the concerns that with the development of satellite navigation, lighthouses will ultimately turn into historical ruins, this is nothing more than a misconception. Yes, modern navigation systems have become incomparably more advanced than the tools available to sailors in the pre-digital era, but even satellite communication occasionally fails. Moreover, visual confirmation of dangerous areas often assists sailors more effectively than all interactive maps and radio communication. In the waters of the Arctic Ocean, lighthouses are certainly assured a bright future, one that will last for decades, if not centuries.

Image attribution: Shutterstock