!!!Sakhalin Island

with kind permission of [AirPano|http://www.AirPano.com]

Sakhalin is the largest island of the Russian Federation being 948 km
long and 26 to 160 km wide. It lies at the easternmost borders of the
country: La Pérouse Strait separates this land from the Japanese island
of Hokkaido. At the southern edge of Sakhalin, there is an outstanding
monument: the Aniva lighthouse. This navigational structure was built in
1939 on a small rock called Sivuchya near the hardly accessible Cape
Aniva.

[{Image src='01_Aniva.jpg' caption='Aniva Lighthouse. Sakhalin Island, Russia\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false'}]

The southern part of Sakhalin was under the reign of Japan back then.
Fierce currents, frequent fogs and sunken rocks make this area very
challenging for navigating. There were many shipwrecks in these waters
before the Karafuto Prefecture authorities decided to build a lighthouse
here.

[{Image src='02_Aniva.jpg' caption='Aniva Lighthouse. Sakhalin Island, Russia\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false'}]

The project was designed by an engineer Miura Shinobu. The Aniva
lighthouse became Sakhalin's most complex technical construction and one
of the most fascinating lighthouses of that time. All the construction
materials had to be delivered by water, often turbulent. There were no
docks, warehouses or accommodating facilities for the workers, so all
the coming materials were immediately used for the construction of the
lighthouse. When the works were over, a small copy of this lighthouse
was presented to the Japanese Emperor symbolizing the victory over the
natural forces.

[{Image src='03_Aniva.jpg' caption='Aniva Lighthouse. Sakhalin Island, Russia\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false'}]

Round in shape, this tower is equipped with a small offset wing. This
lighthouse was attributed to the third order according to the basic lens
sizes: its lens had a focal length of 500 mm with a diameter of 1,000
mm, range coverage - 28.16 km.

[{Image src='04_Aniva.jpg' caption='Aniva Lighthouse. Sakhalin Island, Russia\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false'}]

The basement of the lighthouse was equipped with diesel engines and
batteries. Above them were the kitchen, food storage, radio room,
equipment room and watch room. The living quarters, which could
accommodate up to 12 people, were located on the third, fourth and fifth
floors. The sixth floor is where the storeroom used to be; the
mechanisms of a pneumatic siren and fuel storage were housed one floor
above. At last, the top ninth floor housed the lens rotation mechanism
of the lighthouse.

[{Image src='05_Aniva.jpg' caption='Aniva Lighthouse. Sakhalin Island, Russia\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false'}]

The light of Aniva rose at 40 meters above sea level. The lantern
rotated inside a bowl with 300 kg of mercury that functioned as a
bearing. The rotation was driven by a suspended weight of 270 kg! The
lighthouse keeper had to rewind this system every three hours.

[{Image src='06_Aniva.jpg' caption='Aniva Lighthouse. Sakhalin Island, Russia\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false'}]

In the 1990s, it was decided to make the Aniva Lighthouse autonomous,
functioning with no human assistance, by re-equipping it to work from a
nuclear power source. That's how this facility had been working until
2006.

[{Image src='07_Aniva.jpg' caption='Aniva Lighthouse. Sakhalin Island, Russia\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false'}]

By this time, the nuclear system had exhausted its resources and
afterwards, it was not renewed. All valuable equipment was evacuated,
the lighthouse has been abandoned ever since. Winds, waters and vandals
are slowly destroying this construction.

[{Image src='08_Aniva.jpg' caption='Aniva Lighthouse. Sakhalin Island, Russia\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false'}]

In 2015, the Russian Geographical Society planned to launch the
restoration of this monument, but somehow it did not happen. Still, the
lighthouse has been given a new lease on life, and now it is a popular
tourist destination.

[{Image src='09_Aniva.jpg' caption='Aniva Lighthouse. Sakhalin Island, Russia\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false'}]

People are not threatened by the fact that it is one of the most hardly
accessible lighthouses in the world. First, you leave Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
to the village of Novikovo and then you have to take a motorboat to the
lighthouse through the turbulent sea waters.

[{Image src='10_Aniva.jpg' caption='Aniva Lighthouse. Sakhalin Island, Russia\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false'}]

Fortunately, panoramas created by AirPano make this journey easier for
you! And because the lighthouse is dilapidating year by year, you should
not miss the opportunity to get acquainted with this outstanding
technical and historical monument.

[{Image src='11_Aniva.jpg' caption='Aniva Lighthouse. Sakhalin Island, Russia\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false'}]

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[14 panoramas of Sakhalin Island|Geography/Asia/Russia/Pictures/Panoramas_of_Sakhalin_Island]

[{SET customtitle='Sakhalin Island (AP)'}]












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