Lighthouse of the Week, December 26, 2021 - January 1, 2022: Nida Lighthouse, Lithuania

 

There's no particular New Year's significance to this lighthouse -- I discovered it because I encountered the geographical placename "Curonian Lagoon", wondered where that was, and then after that was ascertained, I wondered if there were any lighthouses in that locale.  And there was this one.

It's called the Nida Lighthouse, and it's in Neringa, and there is a page about it at the "Visit Neringa" Web site that has a lot of detailed information.  

So we can learn this in the history of it:

"Construction of the first Nida Lighthouse began during the 2nd half of the 19th century after the war of German unification. The hexagonal, red-brick, 27 metre-heigh tower was built at the same time when the 51.4-metre-high Urbas Hill was being afforested. For that purpose, a special plank road was paved towards the peak. The lighthouse began operating on October 20, 1874. It could then be reached by a cobblestone path containing 200 steps, which have survived to the present day. This cobblestone path was built by the French soldiers who were taken captive in 1870-1871 by Germans during the Franco-Prussian War . A Fresnel lantern was installed in the old Nida lighthouse. It used a mineral oil burner. Every 10 seconds, it produced a 4-second flash visible at the sea for a distance of 21 nautical miles. The first lighthouse in Nida functioned until the end of the WWII, when it was blown up in 1944 by the withdrawing German soldiers."

So after it got blowed up, they build a new one, which is the present-day one, described thusly:

"The present-day Nida lighthouse is a reinforced concrete tower of cylindrical shape with horizontal red and white stripes. Its height is 29.3 metres. The lighthouse transmits white-light signals which can be seen at the sea for 41 km (22 nautical miles). The lighthouse is located approximately 900 metres away from the sea and is 79 metres above the sea level. Nida Lighthouse as well as Klaipėda Lighthouse have been added to the global books of light signs (Lith. pasaulio šviesos ženklų knygos), marine charts and described in water piloting books (Lith. locija). Until November 2016, the old lighting system functioned in the lighthouse. It had as many as 6 lamps installed, and only one was lit at a time. When this lamp used to burn out, another lamp would switch on."

And where is it?  Well, as you might have guessed by now, it's next to the Curonian Lagoon, actually situated on the Curonian Spit, at the top of Urbas Hill.  Zoom in to verify;  I zoomed out to show both spit and lagoon.

And having provided all that, now I provide pictures.  It's a classic candy-cane striped paint job.