Tolbukhin lighthouse

on a small artificial island at the tip of the

Kotlinskaya Spit, extending northwest of Kotlin Island, a lighthouse was installed almost three hundred years ago. This is one of the oldest lighthouses in the Baltic and in Russia.

Introduction

was built on the personal instructions of Peter I. In

one of the notes to Vice Admiral Kruys on November 13, 1718 he wrote: “Make Kolm (lighthouse) stone with a lantern on the Kotlinskaya Spit”. Fulfilling this instruction, Kruys gave a written order to Captain Lane on December 2. Attached to the letter was a sketch of the lighthouse tower, authored by Peter I. The main dimensions of the lighthouse tower were given on the sketch, and the bottom part was made by the emperor’s postscript: "The rest is given to the will of the architect."

and, above all, a large number of skilled masons. The

port of Kronstadt, which was entrusted with the construction of the lighthouse, did not have them. Therefore, with the consent of Peter I, it was decided to build a temporary wooden lighthouse and at the same time begin to procure materials for the stone tower.

and was named Kotlinsky by the name of the spit

at the tip of which it arose. A lantern was arranged on the tower, in which mainly candles were lit.
In 1736, the lighthouse was renamed Tolbukhinsky. He received this name in honor of Colonel Tolbukhin Fedor Semenovich, who commanded a regiment that defeated the Swedish troops in 1705 and landed on the Kotlinskaya Spit ...
Even when Petersburg was founded, F. S. Tolbukhin was appointed head of the Kotlin island garrison. He also became the first military commandant from Kronstadt. F.S. Tolbukhin died in 1726. The constructed lighthouse did not satisfy sailors, since the visibility of candles burning in the lanterns was negligible. In 1723 and the year the lighthouse switched to hemp oil lighting, which was burned in lamps. However, the replacement of candles with hemp oil practically did not increase the range of visibility of the fire. Therefore, they decided, following the example of the Gotland lighthouse, to transfer Tolbukhin to lighting with firewood and coal.

construction of a new stone lighthouse, which was entrusted to

the Chief Admiralty Architect Ivan Korobov. Having visited Kotlinskaya Spit, Korobov determined the priority work and proposed to build a wooden lighthouse first, gradually preparing for the construction of a stone one.
In 1737, a second wooden lighthouse was built.
By this time, the Admiralty College, which was in charge of the lighthouses, again raised the question of building a stone structure on the spit. But since it was not possible to build a stone tower in a short time, a temporary wooden lighthouse was again erected

The first projects of a stone lighthouse

a stone tower. By 1739, only the foundation was laid

out. The work was carried out in very difficult conditions, because with the slightest surge of water with the wind the spit was flooded and people worked waist-deep in water.
In 1744, during a fire, office premises and a guardhouse, a marina, and a whole supply of firewood and coal were completely burnt down. The fire triggered several more resolutions of the Admiralty College on the construction of a stone lighthouse.

stone tower is connected with the name of naval officer

Leonty Vasilyevich Spafaryev, who since 1807, with the introduction of the director of lighthouses in the Admiralty Department, held this post.
L. V. Spafaryev developed a project and an estimate for the construction of Tolbukhinsky and other lighthouses in the Gulf of Finland and Riga, and took an energetic part in their construction. In 1809, the construction of the stone Tolbukhinsky lighthouse began.

a guardhouse and a bathhouse were erected. In the upper

part of the tower, a metal 12-sided lamp was installed, which was illuminated by 40 oil lamps. The lantern had 24 platinum silver reflectors, which significantly increased the range of the lighthouse.
A stone residential building was built near the tower, connected to it by a special gallery.
September 22, 1810 the stone building came into operation.

stone lighthouse is associated with the name of the famous

Russian architect A. D. Zakharov, the author and builder of the buildings of the Main Admiralty in St. Petersburg.
When L.V. Spafaryev drafted the lighthouse, the Admiralty Department sent it, according to subordination, to the conclusion of the Chief Admiralty Architect A. D. Zakharov. He made many changes and additions to the project both in the design of the lighthouse and in the estimate for its construction.

After the telegraph was installed on the lighthouse, they decided to build a second floor above the guard house. In 1833, the floor was built on and at the same time a gallery was held connecting the house with the tower. This improved the service conditions of the lighthouse, especially in stormy weather, when water almost completely flooded the island.

mention the Decembrist Nikolai Alexandrovich Bestuzhev, who has a direct

relationship to him.
In 1819, the young lieutenant Bestuzhev was appointed assistant director of the Baltic lighthouses. In this position he remained until 1824. In 1821, Bestuzhev installed a lighthouse on Tolbukhin, which gave color-changing fire. In memory of his trips and stay here N. A. Bestuzhev wrote the story “Tolbuhinsky Lighthouse”.

Nikolai Bestuzhev was in the front ranks of the rebels on December 14, and spent the whole day on Sennaya Square. Only in the evening, carried away by a random crowd, he left the square littered with the bodies of the dead and wounded. He decided to run to the Tolbukhinsky lighthouse, relax there and then move on to Sweden.

Bestuzhev

ahead home to Vasilievsky Island before this, Bestuzhev, at dawn

on December 15, tired and cold, approached Kronstadt. In the apartment of his friends he shaved sideburns, made up, replaced the fleet officer’s overcoat with a sheepskin coat and, putting on a three-piece hat, again moved along the Tolbukhinsky spit to the lighthouse.

Soon he saw a tall tower, but it was no longer possible to reach it. he decided to rest and eat in the wretched house of the fisherman, where he was overtaken and arrested by the gendarmes

again becomes an important navigational reference when sailing on the

approach to the sea channel and the main ship-passing structure of the protective dam.
In 2018, the lighthouse was restored, the equipment of the lighthouse was replaced with a new one that meets the most modern navigation requirements.

Lighthouse Tolbukhin today

port of Revel. 1898"

signal installation - a bell, thanks to which the ships

can focus on the sound signal.

Modern diopter LED device

морского флота)