The first mention of the predecessor settlement of
Zimmerbude dates back to a 15th-century chronicle of the
Teutonic Knights. However, even earlier, in a
manuscript from Fischhausen of 1305, there is a mention of the peninsula of Payziev ("Poyzart" - the area in the forest Poyz), from which the Teutonic Knights invaded the
Old Prussians' territory in the first half of the 13th century. The 15th-century castle, which originally belonged to the
bishops of Sambia, has not survived. The modern settlement was founded in 1640. After the confiscation of church property the estate passed to Oswald von Taubenheim, who owned it until 1661. In 1669, the manor was given to
Eberhard von Danckelmann, a former tutor of King Frederick I, as a reward. From the 18th century, the village formed part of the
Kingdom of Prussia. Around 1720, the village comprised 16 estates, 12
peasants and about the same number of fishermen whose main occupation was
fishing, mainly for their own needs. After the castle ceased to exist for a long time villagers eked out a miserable existence of subsistence by fishing. Apart from a few acidified meadows they had no land, and therefore almost never held
cattle. Their home were extremely cramped and dirty, smoke from the fireplaces escaping through the sagging reed roofs and settling as a thick layer of soot on the kitchen walls. On long winter evenings, kindling was burned in the huts, leaving the residents with permanently black faces. They spun, wove, and sewed their own clothes. To add insult to injury, they suffered from floods, which recurred year after year. Religion played an important role in village life: conducting religious rites, services, etc. For a long time there was no church in the village, so it belonged to the parish church of
Medenau. But because of bad roads, the villagers could visit the
church in Medenau only a few times during their lives. Baptisms of children and weddings took place there, as well as major feasts when the weather was fine. The rest of the strongly expressed religious feelings of people meet as a church sermons, which were held in the school building. On April 1, 1901, Zimmerbude and the neighboring villages of Peise and Nepleken, with 1,500 residents, formed their own church community and bought the small church that Medenau had built in Zimmerbude two years earlier as its branch. From 1871, the village also formed part of
Germany, within which it was administratively located in the province of
East Prussia. In the 1920s, a new school was built and before
World War II Zimmerbude was a rather busy, though small
village. There was a shop, a
restaurant, a
bakery, and the inn "Waldschlösschen", which name translates to "Forest castle house". The number of pre-war inhabitants was 742 people. During World War II, no military operations took place directly on the territory of the present-day town of Svetly. The war ended for the village in April 1945, leaving no significant destruction, and it passed to the
Soviet Union. In 1947 it was renamed Svetly. On June 17, 1947 by the Decree of the
Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR a rural council based in Svetly was founded as part of the Primorsky district. It was transformed into a workers settlement by the decision of the Kaliningrad Oblast Executive Committee No 758 of August 1, 1949. On October 6, 1955 by decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet the workers settlement was transformed into a town of regional subordination, which became a centre of the Svetlovsky Urban Okrug in 2008. ==Administrative and municipal status==