Project history

(autotranslated, could have mistakes)

Image removed from public review package. Local review only · not public no-info · 33573a.jpgThe passion for lighthouses and everything connected with the seas and oceans appeared a long time ago, and the history of the implementation of the project and the site began in December 2008, when we met Andrei Savrasov at the Vernissage market in Izmailovo, who was selling decorative Christmas tree miniatures of lighthouses.

Thus, a small figurine of a lighthouse prompted the popularization of lighthouse activities in Russia.

Lighthouses are very popular in the world, but little attention was paid to the lighthouses of Russia and the lighthouse keepers (keepers) and we decided to preserve for history everything that we can collect about them.

We came to the modern, beautiful name for the project later, but at the beginning, in partnership with Savrasov, it received the working title “Author’s project of Andrey Savrasov. Models of lighthouses of the world" and consisted of 2 parts: 1) a section on lighthouses of the world 2) a section with the works of Savrasov. This is how a simple business card website first appeared. Then there was a grown-up site with an online showcase “At the Mayachnik”, the catalog of which exceeded several hundred beacons.

2008

·         December. A business card website was created with a large photo catalog of completed work.

2009

·          Transition of the site to a full-fledged platform (CMS) and implementation of an online showcase of Savrasov’s works “At the Mayachnik”.

·          organization and support of exhibitions (two of them international):

·                    organization of a permanent exhibition at the RAYS Yachting School

·                    participation in the exhibition “Boats and Yachts” 2009 together with the RAYS Yachting School

·                   exhibition within the framework of the sailing regatta "Bank Cup 2009"

·                   exhibition in the VIP zone of the Peter and Paul Fortress as part of the finish line of the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-2009 in St. Petersburg (by the way, thanks to the exhibition I organized, Savrasov met his future wife)

·          participation in the program “I Want to Believe!” on the STS channel

·          development of electronic components for RoterSand model with 3-mode electric lighting

2010

·          an article was published in the yachting magazine People of the Wind

·          cooperation with the Expedition network, the Museum of the World Ocean, Paulsen Publishing House, Russian North, Mayachny Foundation, Shturmanskaya Knizhka and many others (sorry if I didn’t mention it)

·          holding an exhibition in St. Petersburg (October) at the First International Scientific Conference "Problems of studying and preserving the Maritime Heritage of Russia"

·          yacht trip around Crimea with photography of lighthouses (Kerch-Evpatoria-Kerch)

·          jointly with the publishing house Paulsen, exhibition at “non/fictio№12” at the Central House of Artists

Image removed from public review package. Local review only · not public no-info · e1741905128.jpgIn December 2010, Savrasov and I parted ways. Everyone went about their business. We focused on the original idea of ​​​​creating a virtual museum and a club for lighthouse lovers, which were initially spelled out in the strategy.

So the project was transformed into the “Virtual Museum of Lighthouses of the World” and is currently the largest lighthouse project in Russia.

I am very grateful to all the people and companies who took part in the formation and development of the project. I hope that our cooperation will continue in the future.

2011

·         I spent most of my time transforming the site into an encyclopedia, laying out a new structure, beacon cards, and, most importantly, beacons.

During this time, the focus on lighthouses shifted even more. Yes, the lighthouses are undoubtedly beautiful, but most important are the people. How many interesting destinies were hidden behind these giants. I learned especially a lot about them after meeting Sergei Terentyevich Aksentiev and from his book “The Secret of Old Lighthouses”.

·         Also this year, work began on the photo album “Lighthouses of Russia”. I am grateful to everyone involved in its creation.

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2012

The year can easily be called a “lighthouse year”. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the Navy Hydrographic Service is 185 years old! Since the beginning of the year, there has been great interest in the topic of lighthouses, from different sides.

• The guys filmed a documentary dedicated to the article of the Constitution and even agreed to include the lighthouse in Scarlet Sails, which became the center of the storyline.

• With the help of active project participants from the Kaliningrad region, we managed to meet an interesting photographer Nikolai Yagunov and his photo albums, incl. dedicated to lighthouses

• A very interesting acquaintance and communication with Mikhail Chumak (Atalas of Culture) and their project to shoot the film “Fleet Outpost”.

• Getting to know the most interesting lighthouses and Kurbatov. The woman head of the lighthouse.

• Thanks to cooperation with GENI DESIGN GROUP, the project has a logo and a new design has been developed for the site, which is currently in the implementation stage.

• And finally, thanks to the help of Sergei Aksentiev, we were able to continue our journey through the lighthouses of Crimea. We visited Khersonessky, Inkermansky back, Foros Church (looked at the bell from Sarych), Ai-Todor (+museum), Church-lighthouse in Malorechenskoye, "Rybachy", Meganomsky, Ilyinsky, Chauda, ​​Kyz-aul, Evpatoriya. In the Vladimir Cathedral (Sevastopol) it was not possible to see the bell from Evpatoria, because repair. Tarkhankut is also currently undergoing renovations before the anniversary. Thus, we completed our acquaintance with lighthouses from the ground. Previously, we traveled in 2010 on the yacht Kerch-Evpatoria-Kerch, and that time the Yalta lighthouse was added. It was also very nice to leave T-shirts with the project emblem for the lighthouse workers as a souvenir.

2013

• The year as a whole passed peacefully. As always, we were busy filling the internal contents of the encyclopedia of the world's beacons. We are still one of the largest projects on lighthouses in Russia and it is very encouraging that this year more projects by lighthouse lovers have appeared, including a photo bank on lighthouses.

• we have postponed the redesign of the site until time arises, but for now we are concentrating on the internal content. The same applies to the idea of ​​releasing a photo album of lighthouses of Russia. Our plans have not changed and the album will be released sooner or later.

• Image removed from public review package. Local review only · not public no-info · 272_0.jpg Nikolai Yagunov and his wife have released several wonderful photo albums. One of which is Gdansk Bay also contains a number of photographs of lighthouses, including aerial shots not included in the album lighthouses of the Southern Baltic. Each meeting with this interesting creative family gives a surge of optimism and strength.

• Image removed from public review package. Local review only · not public no-info · 275_0.jpgThe middle of the year passed under the flag of the Kurbatov lighthouse. Lighthouse makers Elena and Vladimir managed to release a special edition of memorable postcards of the Kurbatov lighthouse with the stamp of the Kurbatov lighthouse on Shumshu island (design panorama. View 1, View 2). You need to imagine how difficult this event was. And thanks to travelers from Moscow, we managed to receive them safe and sound.

In general, in more than a year of our acquaintance with lighthouses, interest in the lighthouse and its family has increased greatly. We periodically receive letters asking how to get to the lighthouse, asking about the fate of the lighthouse workers. In the summer of 2013, a group of documentary filmmakers filmed a short story about the lighthouse. You will soon see photographs on the website, and the plot should be included in a film of 5 stories, one of which is about Kurbatov.

• We continue to keep our fingers crossed that Mikhail Chumak’s project Atlas of Culture manages to obtain funding for a film about lighthouses “Fleet Outpost”. They have made several interesting documentaries this year. They can rightfully be called the Russian BBC, so of course I would like such a professional team to make a film about lighthouses.

• Missing image: 271_0.jpgas always, a lot of new acquaintances abroad and in Russia. As before, Russian lighthouses are of great interest to farologists and amateurs from abroad. Particularly memorable was the project by Aidas Jurkstas with author’s works on more than 600 lighthouses. Also significant was the meeting on Holland Day in Moscow with lighthouse lover Brigit from the royal orchestra.

2014

• the year began with digging up book rarities. We managed to get our hands on some wonderful books:

• Image removed from public review package. Local review only · not public no-info · 276_0.jpg Atlas of Russian lighthouses and

• Samarin I.A. Lighthouses of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. Historical sketch Image removed from public review package. Local review only · not public no-info · 277_0.jpg

• We met the lighthouse maker Alexey Nikolaevich Shishelov from the lighthouse dynasty of the Shoina lighthouse - an interesting story

• A documentary film “Family” was released, which included a story about the lighthouse men from Kurbatov

• Brigit from the Netherlands conveyed wonderful greetings about our meeting in Moscow Mariot an article in the authoritative magazine LAMP (association of lighthouse keepers).

2015

• the year was very active and exhibition, as always I write briefly due to lack of time. I apologize in advance if I didn't mention anyone.

• throughout January, preparations continued for the exhibition “Lighthouses of the Russian North” on the icebreaker Krasin in St. Petersburg. Initially, we participated only as information sponsors, but in October 2014 we met the wonderful craftsman Nazar (thank you very much for your help and participation), who made for us a diorama of the Tolbukhin lighthouse and several models with which we participated for several days in February in an exhibition organized by Yuri Matseevsky and several artists and photographers.

• we changed the name to something more appropriate to our expanded activities. "Mayachnik. Virtual Museum of Lighthouses of the World" was replaced with "Mayachnik. Lighthouses of Russia and the World".

• in March, our article about the Kurbatov lighthouse was published in the authoritative magazine LAMP. Thanks to everyone who took part in its release!

• in April and May, a long-awaited meeting took place in Moscow with the family of lighthouse workers of the Kurbatov lighthouse. In addition to donating copies of the magazine with the article, an accurate working model of the lighthouse on a scale of 1:200 was donated. This year is notable for the 70th anniversary of the Kuril landing on Shumshu Island, where the lighthouse is located

• since February, all efforts have been devoted to preparing for the exhibition “Lighthouses of the Russian North” in Arkhangelsk, in which we successfully participated from June to September with an expanded exhibition (about 13 lighthouses, including 3 dioramas) and multimedia walks through the lighthouses. A walk through lighthouses is a new genre with which we began to popularize the lighthouses of Russia - short videos with a historical basis.

• then from September to December the exhibition continued as part of a joint project with the “Maritime Russia” project, for which special thanks to its author and organizer Anatoly Vasiliev. Special thanks to Yuri Matseevsky and the organizers at the Arkhangelsk Museum for the invitation to participate in the exhibition. It was an excellent platform and a wonderful almost six-month exhibition.

• As a result of the exhibition, we made quite a few new acquaintances with keepers, writers and enthusiastic lighthouse lovers. Special thanks to Boris Zhdanov and Valery Plaksin for their help in finding information about the lighthouses of the Russian north and restoring the fair history of the Zhuzmuysky lighthouse.

• December ended with a small auction dedicated to the book “Lighthouses of Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands”. Several unexpected acquaintances arose around the auction, and after it the last copy of the book was purchased by the granddaughter of the Aniva lighthouse keeper, whose photograph was in this book, as a gift to him. An amazing coincidence.

2016

The year was eventful, so only a few of them

• At the beginning of spring, our first conversation about lighthouses took place on RADIO MOSCOW, broadcast ALL YOUR OWN broadcast on MARCH 17, 2016 http://www.mayachnik.ru/node/1307

• We continued to develop our encyclopedic platform. For a long time, we maintained the encyclopedia of lighthouses and lighthouses on our own behind closed doors, but there were quite a few people willing to help us and share their information. As usual, there weren’t enough hands and time for everything, so on Russian Lighthouse Service Day we opened a platform where anyone can share their information about lighthouses and lighthouses. This is a kind of folk lighthouse encyclopedia located at a separate address http://mayaki.ru/

• One of the most significant events of the year was registration on July 1, 2016. Foundation for the Support of Lighthouses and Lighthouses “Russian Lighthouse Society” (or abbreviated as the “Russian Lighthouse Society” Foundation). We have been working towards this for several years and finally the process is completed.

• The first event at which we essentially officially presented the Russian Lighthouse Society was participation in the lighthouse festival “World of Lighthouses” at the St. Petersburg Maritime Festival 2016 on August 13-14 in the Peter and Paul Fortress. The event turned out to be very interesting and memorable and demonstrated an excellent example of the synergy of all projects around the lighthouse. From our project we presented an exhibition of models and dioramas of lighthouses, as well as presentations on the topic “Lighthouse Keeper in the 21st Century” http://www.mayachnik.ru/node/1351

• The second report, which was prepared for the event on the history of the development of lighthouse business in Russia, is also posted on our website http://www.mayachnik.ru/node/1363

• Following the maritime festival, another example of lighthouse synergy was demonstrated in the creation of a Ferrero Rocher commercial about a lighthouse keeper “Reward those who do not seek rewards” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLyggZDnVOg In the fall, an advertising agency approached us for help in filming a New Year’s video. Moreover the requirements were quite serious, in a fairly short time of interaction the required amount of information was collected, contacts were made, and colleagues rushed to take pictures. Many people associated with the lighthouse theme were involved in the filming, including the organizers of the lighthouse festival. The result was a very touching video, one of the best filmed in Russia.

• In October, at the Cultural Center of the FSB of the Russian Federation (Moscow, Bolshaya Lubyanka St., 12), an exhibition of the project “Maritime Russia” was held, within the framework of which models of Russian lighthouses were exhibited. Particularly worth noting on October 26 is the evening of a creative meeting with participants of the “Maritime Russia” exhibition. At which the participants' reports were accompanied by a live performance by musicians from the Mumiy Troll group.

• Several radio broadcasts took place in the fall and winter. We talked about traveling through lighthouses as part of the program “Across the Universe” with Maria Alexandrova on the radio “Russian News Service” http://www.mayachnik.ru/node/1356

• In December we were again invited to perform on RADIO MOSCOW. “ALL YOURS” program. Presenter Natalya Lisitsina is a lover of both lighthouses and bicycles, and this gives her interesting view of lighthouses http://www.mayachnik.ru/node/1361

• Also in 2016, the guys from St. Petersburg joined our project and helped lead the Russian Lighthouse Society group on VKontakte

2017

• The volume of materials has been significantly expanded, especially on lighthouses of the Far East in the folk encyclopedia of lighthouses mayaki.ru

• In 2017, our cooperation with the World Lighthouse Society continued; we have already become their members at the level of the Russian Lighthouse Society. To simplify the perception of our symbols, we released the Russian Lighthouse Society logo in English.

• In June, the Museum of the Russian Lighthouse Service opened (Fort Konstantin ter., Kronstadt) from our project, 6 models of lighthouses were donated to the museum. Many thanks to Vladimir Erger for his work!

• The newspaper “Sobesednik” published a short article about the work of a lighthouse operator as part of an article about the “dream job”

• We helped Efron publishers in preparing material for an album/book on Baltic lighthouses in terms of Russian lighthouses, in parallel with this there was a trip for lighthouse lovers “Sailing trip around the islands of the Baltic Sea” on a sailing catamaran.

• Cooperation with students. Helped Elena Li create a 3D visualization of the Aniva lighthouse.

• Cooperation with Wikimedia RU in terms of preparing materials for the celebration of the anniversary of the Taran lighthouse (Brewsterort)

• We gave an interview to Evening Moscow, we hope the material will be published

• At the end of autumn we began interacting with The Association of Lighthouse Keepers

• We supported the initiative of the ABV Book Publishing House regarding the re-release of new editions of famous books about Russian lighthouses. Now the publishing house is working on organizing a reprint.

• Participated in the project "Baikal Crossing" in terms of preserving the remains of a unique lighthouse built in 1903 in the port of Tankhoy on Lake Baikal.

• Two radio expeditions took place under the flag of the Russian Lighthouse Society and the broadcast sounded “Everyone! Everyone! Expedition of the Russian Lighthouse Society!” from 20 lighthouses of the Baltic Sea Evgeny Dubrovsky personally made more than 2000 connections with the whole world, including the States of Australia and South Africa, but priority, of course, goes to the Russians.   Evgeniy received an award in Europe that had not been given out for more than two years and became the first Russian who, in principle, received it at number 11. As Evgeniy says, “The Russian lighthouse society has opened a window to Europe!”

• Image removed from public review package. Local review only · not public no-info · diplomebest_expe_argent10_rx3ami_0.jpg

• Member of the Board of Trustees Nikolai Yagunov opened a new website with his works, which also contain photographs and albums on lighthouses.

2018

The first major anniversary for our project is 10 years!

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So the project is alive, developing and will continue to develop! Anyone who wants to participate, please contact us.

Best regards,

Vasily Korablev

Head of the project "Lighthouse. Lighthouses of Russia and the world"

President of the Russian Lighthouse Society Foundation