Tattoo of a lighthouse on the shoulder
The image of the lighthouse represents the pursuit of the goal. It is a symbol with a positive meaning, denoting the successful resolution of affairs.
The vertical construction of the picture perspective directs subconscious vision in the direction of ascent. It reads firmness, inviolability of principles. In the tattoo tradition, the lighthouse is used as a sign of moral guidance and the inner compass of man.
A lighthouse is a symbol of light, hope and the right path.
Those who lag behind are kept in memory but those who went ahead become lighthouses.
Valery Afonchenko
Exactly 2 years ago, on January 18, 2012, the first issue of the newspaper "Lighthouse of Gelendzhik" was published. In honor of the birthday we present to your attention interesting facts about lighthouses.
- Many lighthouses are no longer in use. Satellite navigation doesn't leave a chance for lighthouses, but that doesn't mean that we should just forget their history. Lighthouse preservation societies are being established around the world to preserve these magnificent buildings. Many lighthouses have been converted into museums, and former keepers often serve as tour guides.
- The British authorities put the outdated lighthouses up for sale to save money for the maintenance of more modern ones. The offer has caused a stir among the romantics who equip them as houses. The building itself may not look like a luxury mansion or royal castle - that's not what is appreciated about lighthouses. They are located on the outskirts, away from the bustle of the city. And the main thing is the view from the window. Here one can really feel alone with the sea.
- In France the coastline was not marked with lights until the 17th century, it was done to prevent pirate attacks.
- Till now there is a church-beacon on the Big Solovetsky Island - the Church of the Ascension, built in 1867. According to an architect's design the church's dome was surmounted by a lighthouse tower. The unusual look of this construction unwittingly drew the attention of pilgrims, and they saw nothing in it that was reprehensible. The light coming from the cross and showing wanderers the right way to Solovetsky monastery acquired a special symbolic meaning for them.
- The Statue of Liberty from 1886 to 1902 was used as a lighthouse.
- The most western lighthouse in Russia, built in 1813-1816, is located in the city of Baltiysk. It points the way for ships to the ports of Baltiysk, Svetlog and Kaliningrad.
- The world's highest 106-meter lighthouse in the form of a steel tower is installed in Yokohama (Japan).
- The oldest lighthouse in operation today, built during the time of the Roman Emperor Trajan (II century), is located in the Spanish province of La Coruña, near the town of El Ferrol.
Anecdotes on the subject:
A sweaty letter carrier, pushing on his oars, rows up to the lighthouse and hands the lighthouse keeper a letter with an angry face. "If you come here next time so angry," the keeper tells him, "I'll subscribe to some newspaper.
***A customer at the site takes the work from the contractor. He brings him to a dug-out shaft, 3 meters in diameter and 50 meters deep, they take a look and a searchlight burns at the bottom.Customer: - What the hell is this?! Contractor: - Here is the blueprint! That's how it was done. Customer (turning the drawing 180 degrees): - It's a lighthouse!
***Spaniards (interference in the background): "...says A-853, please turn 15 degrees south to avoid collision with us. You are coming straight at us, distance 25 nautical miles. "Americans: "We are the ones advising you to turn 15 degrees north to avoid collision with us. "Spanish: "Negative answer. We repeat, turn 15 degrees south to avoid collision." Americans (other voice): "This is the captain of a United States ship speaking to you. Turn 15 degrees north to avoid collision!"Spanish: "We do not think your proposal is possible or adequate, we advise you to turn 15 degrees south to avoid hitting us. "Americans (in higher tones): "This is Captain Richard Dames Howard, commander of the aircraft carrier "Uss Lincoln" of the United States Navy, the second largest warship in the American Navy. We are accompanied by 2 cruisers, 6 fighters, 4 submarines and numerous support ships. I am not "advising" you, I am "ordering" you to change your course by 15 degrees north. Otherwise, we will be forced to take necessary measures to ensure the safety of our ship. Get off our course immediately!!!".Spanish (completely calm): "This is Juan Manuel Salas Alcantara speaking. There are two of us. We are accompanied by our dog, dinner, two bottles of beer and a canary who is now asleep. We are supported by the radio station Cadena Dial de la Coruna and Channel 106, Extreme Situations at Sea. We are not going to turn anywhere, given that we are on land and we are lighthouse A-853 of the Strait of Finisterra of the Galician Coast of Spain. We have no idea what our ranking among Spanish lighthouses is, but it's enough to make you crash on the rocks.
The lives of others
Some insignificant detail reminds one or another of the times of Japanese presence. Recently a friend of mine was hunting near Otradnaya Bay, ten minutes away from Malokurilskoye settlement," Victor Sidorov shares. - He shot a fox, cut it up, and it had a stomach full of rice. Apparently, it stumbled upon an old Japanese warehouse. Victor tells how the lighthouse keepers at Cape Kastrikum on the island of Urup discovered a strawberry plantation. "There used to be a Japanese military unit there - apparently they planted them. Lighthouse workers would then pick three or four buckets each."
© Maria Belokovylskaya
Once Sidorov found a Japanese ritual boat on the shore of the ocean. Externally, it looks like half of an ordinary wooden boat with shelves for candles and offerings. "Where the House of Culture is now built in Malokurilskoe, there is an old Japanese cemetery. The Japanese came there before the pandemic, and then they launched these boats of their own into the ocean. If it sails toward the island, it means the spirits are in a good mood.
Sidorov recently watched "Lighthouse," a surreal horror film whose main characters live on a lonely rocky island and gradually find themselves at the mercy of an inexplicable evil. "It's all nonsense," Lighthouse waved his hand. - Mermaids running around, seducing caretakers. I once saw an American movie about a lighthouse, where ghosts of pirates came out and started killing everybody. I remember I was really nervous. I even locked the door, just in case.
© Maria Belokovylskaya
Guests at Sidorov's house are rare. Occasionally, tourists who want a taste of island romance stop by. Once, Victor hosted a strange character. An unfamiliar man came barefoot in the winter and asked for a place to sleep. "I put him up in the cabin, and I went to start the diesel myself. I came back, and he was walking around the room, cutting the air with scissors. Here, he said, white ribbons were flying around. Then he started drawing crosses on the walls. I was scared out of my mind. I hid in the diesel room. In the morning I pushed him out of the door. In general, life here, of course, is very specific. Crows cawing as if people were talking, or a house-dweller knocking on the windows.
Victor and I say goodbye and I head in the direction of Malokurilskoye settlement. In fifteen minutes I look back to see Spanberg Lighthouse again. Fog has come from ocean side and everything is covered with dense veil. The old Japanese lighthouse at Cape Crab no longer exists. The ghost of a distant past has dissolved, along with its keeper.
Image Stylistics
Today, masters in the salons can score a lighthouse tattoo in a variety of styles: old-school, new-school, traditional, minimalist, thrash-polka, even in graphics and realism.
Perhaps one of the most successful options can be called the direction of the old-school. Here there is an abundance of shading, wide contours, richness of colors. Additions make the picture individual and exclusive.
Place pictures of the lighthouse tattoo on the arms, shoulders, forearms, back, and if the sketch is oblong, then select the shin. Very well looks a lighthouse tattoo on the scapula.
We advise to see different variants on the photo and choose a salon that you like, based on the work of the masters of this studio.
Divide and Conquer
From the beginning of the 18th century the administration of the Kurils was carried out by the Russian-American Company (RAC) which was responsible, among other things, for the food supply. After the sale of Alaska to the United States, the RAK formally ceased its activities, and then the islands, which were part of the East Siberian Governorate-General's Maritime Region, were placed under direct Russian administration. In the 1850-1870s the Russian-Japanese border was being formed. According to the Treaty of Shimoda it passed between Iturup and Urup. Twenty years later, the countries signed another treaty, the Treaty of St. Petersburg, and all of the Kuril Islands went to Japan. Natalya Potapova, professor at Sakhalin State University, writes that at the time the islands were transferred, the local authorities had no idea about their geography: "In response to the request of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for a description of the Kurils, a document signed by Governor General Fredericks was sent from the Main Administration of Eastern Siberia. From this document, it follows that Fredericks did not distinguish between the Kuril and the Commander Islands.
With the arrival of the Japanese Shikotan became Shikotan, a county in the Nemuro District of Hokkaido governorship. In the 1880s, the Japanese brought here the Ainu from all over the Kurils - a total of over a thousand people. The Japanese employed the Ainu in various jobs and in return they gave them rice, vegetables, some fish, and sake, a set that was very different from the usual Ainu diet, which consisted mainly of sea animal meat. In addition, there were too many Ainu in one territory, whereas normally they were settled at a distance from each other in small groups. As a result, members of the region's oldest ethnic community began to die en masse from disease. After World War II, the few remaining Ainu were evacuated to Hokkaido.
On September 1, 1945, a Soviet rifle battalion landed on Shikotan, and the Japanese garrison under Major-General Sadashichi Doi was forced to surrender. Soviet jurisdiction over Shikotan was established thereafter. Witnessing these events was the very last Japanese lighthouse on Cape Crab, the Spanberg Lighthouse, built two years before the surrender.
Navigational properties
In order to allow the ship's crew to determine which side a ship is approaching the lighthouse, some lights are color-coded with several bands of a certain color. These stripes are called the "day marker". In the dark, this function is performed by sector lights. The white color of the sector light with which the lighthouse is marked means the safe sector. The area to the left of the safe sector is usually marked with a red light and the area to the right is marked with a green light.
