Glass Bay
No artist: waves rounded discarded bottle glass on an Ussuri Bay beach · Steklyannaya Bay, Ussuri Bay, near Rybachy, Vladivostok, Primorsky Krai, Russia · Russian name: Бухта Стеклянная (Bukhta Steklyannaya)
Photo: Angelikagub / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0), as also published in Street Art Utopia.
Glass Bay is a beach on Ussuri Bay near Vladivostok where waves have ground decades of discarded bottle glass and porcelain into smooth, colored pebbles mixed with ordinary stones. The glass is thinning: a 2020 typhoon stripped part of the shore, a 2024 study describes an observed decline, and volunteers now bring in fresh glass. Source Source Source Source Checked
Seen Aug 2026: OSN reported on 7 August 2026 that a Vladivostok resident had started collecting glass to restore the beach; a 2024 study describes the glass as declining. Source Source Checked
More photos
💡 4 things to know
- A dump supplied itThe regional tourism site says a city dump was built on the seashore about a kilometre from the beach in 1967, and currents carried its bottles to the beach, where they broke on the rocks. Source Reported
- Typhoon Maysak stripped itOn 3 September 2020 a storm during Typhoon Maysak washed the glass off part of the shore, leaving small pebbles mixed with sand. Source Source Checked
- The glass is thinningA 2024 engineering paper describes an observed decline in glass concentration, and local reports blame tourists taking glass as souvenirs. Source Source Source Checked
- Now topped up by handIn July 2024 a city action tumbled glass in a concrete mixer on the beach and spread it on the shore, and in 2026 a resident began collecting glass for the same purpose. Source Source Checked
📍 Where it is
The beach is open all year and is about 10 km from Vladivostok along the Vladivostok-Artyom road past Rybachy, roughly 30 minutes by car. Removing glass from the bay is prohibited. Source Source Checked
Opens a Google Maps search for the coordinates (43.1438955, 132.0569322); no Street View panorama was checked for this file.
🗓️ Sightings
- 1967
City dump built on the shore · Visit Primorye
- 201821 Jun
Glass-covered shore photographed · camera date (Commons page says 1 May 2019)
- 20205 Sep
Storm on 3 Sep washed glass from part of the beach · reported by PrimaMedia
- 202412 Jul
Tumbled glass brought to the beach in the ‘Shards of the Sea’ action · EastRussia
- 202425 Jul
Glass shore photographed · camera date
- 2024
Study describes observed decline in glass concentration · FEFU Engineering School Bulletin
- 2025
Photo album published 11 Jul 2025 (visit in May 2025) · T-Zh
- 20267 Aug
Resident collects glass to restore the beach · OSN
Green stamps mark dated photographs; amber stamps mark dated records and reports. Publication dates are not camera dates.
🗞️ In the sources
Бухта Стеклянная во Владивостоке больше не оправдывает своего названия (ФОТО)
“Теперь на берегу бухты — мелкая галька вперемешку с песком вместо привычных всем обточенных морем стёклышек.”
Now the bay’s shore has fine pebbles mixed with sand instead of the familiar sea-polished bits of glass.
Бутылочные осколки завезли в бухту Стеклянную во Владивостоке
“Но с годами количество цветных частей стало уменьшаться (туристы любят брать с собой на сувениры), и бухта начала терять свою идентичность.”
But over the years the number of colored pieces began to decrease (tourists like to take them as souvenirs), and the bay began to lose its identity.
“Местные рыбаки посетовали: туристы собирают красивые стеклышки в таких количествах, что скоро пляж станет обычным.”
Local fishermen complained: tourists collect the pretty bits of glass in such quantities that the beach will soon become ordinary.
Жительница Владивостока начала собирать стекло для восстановления пляжа Стекляшка
“Цель инициативы — постепенно вернуть Стекляшке более яркий и узнаваемый вид.”
The goal of the initiative is to gradually give Steklyashka [Glass Beach] back a brighter, more recognisable look.
✅ The facts
- Origin
- Glass and porcelain waste from a city dump built in 1967 about 1 km from the beach Source Source Reported
- Major change
- Typhoon Maysak, 3 September 2020, washed glass from part of the shore Source Source Checked
- Storm damage extent
- LEO Network: ‘record strong wind destroyed at least half’ of the beach (no date given); PrimaMedia and The Vintage News say part of the shore Source Source Source Conflicting
🔗 Related
All sources & image credits
- Visit Primorye: Бухта Стеклянная (Glass Bay)
- PrimaMedia: Бухта Стеклянная во Владивостоке больше не оправдывает своего названия (ФОТО)
- Sci.ru / Bulletin of the FEFU Engineering School 2024 No. 3(60): Kilmatov T. R., Engineering measures to preserve the Steklyannaya Bay beach
- EastRussia: Бутылочные осколки завезли в бухту Стеклянную во Владивостоке
- OSN: Жительница Владивостока начала собирать стекло для восстановления пляжа Стекляшка
- T-Zh: Vladivostok photo album, May 2025
- The Vintage News: ‘Beautiful’ Polluted Beach Almost Destroyed by Typhoon
- LEO Network: Stunning beach with hundreds of colourful sparkling pebbles damaged by typhoon Maysak
- Wikimedia Commons: Бухте Стеклянная во Владивостоке усыпана кусочками битого стекла.jpg (Angelikagub, CC BY 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons: Steklyannaya Bay 3.jpg (Lumaca, CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons: Category:Steklyannaya Bay
- Hero photo: Angelikagub / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
- More photos: Lumaca / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (2024-07-25)
- Share image: the hero photo on a 16:9 canvas with blurred sides, made from the WAU media copy.
Last checked: 4 November 2026. How we verify art