North-Western Basin Branch News

Kaliningrad Seaway Canal History Museum Opened

The Kaliningrad Directorate of the FSUE “Rosmorport” North-Western Basin Branch finished works to create a museum exposition of the Kaliningrad Seaway Canal – the major transport corridor in the west of Russia. This year the Kaliningrad Seaway Canal has marked the 118th anniversary.

The museum reflects the history of the Kaliningrad Seaway Canal starting from 1901 to the present day. The exposition includes rare archives photos, documents and schemes, i.e. materials on the history of design, construction and operation of the canal, and equipment used to enable operation of the sea marks on the canal in the different periods of the history. Models of vessels, which were used and are still in use to the present day for the operation of seaway canal, aids to navigation and instruments for defining physical parameters of the canal and cartography stand proudly among other exhibits.

The unique schemes of the canal drawn in hand by specialists just after the construction of the canal and the 1924 scheme, including the names of sea marks, are of great value. According to the organizers’ plan, new exhibits on the essential to the region port infrastructure facility will be added to the museum exposition.

Over 80 exhibits have been collected and donated to the new museum by devotees whose work is linked with the Kaliningrad Seaway Canal. One of them, chief of the seaway canal service Nikolai Lyadvik, who has been working for 24 years in this industry, conducted the first excursion for the first guests of the museum.

The Kaliningrad Seaway Canal history museum is located at the building of the aids to navigation base in the seaport of Kaliningrad at the area of Rybachiy Settlement. Only tourist groups can visit the museum by advance requests. Requests for this purpose should be sent to the Kaliningrad Directorate Monday-Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. by mail@kld.rosmorport.ru.

The museum created by the Kaliningrad Directorate will make contribution to the development of the maritime culture of the region and leave important information in history for the future generation, particularly for cadets of the industry educational institutions.

For reference:

The Kaliningrad Seaway Canal starts its way from entrance seawalls of Baltiysk and passes along the northern coast of the Vistula Bay to the mouth of the Pregoli River. The length of the canal is 23 miles (43 km), its breadth is 50-80 meters and the depth is 9-10.5 meters. Personnel of the Kaliningrad Directorate of the North-Western Basin Branch ensures navigation safety on the canal by sustaining necessary depths and rendering navigation and surveying services.