The Amrum Lighthouse is located in the southern part of the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

island of

Amrum Amrum (; Öömrang, ''Öömrang'' North Frisian: ''Oomram'') is one of the North Frisian Islands on the Germany, German North Sea coast, south of Sylt and west of Föhr. It is part of the Nordfriesland district in the federal state of Schleswig-H ...

, approximately 2 kilometres west of the village of Wittdün, yet still adhering to the municipality of Nebel. Its name in

is ''Seefeuer Amrum''. The

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Lighthouses mar ...

is one of the island's landmarks, being open to the public during the summer season.

Data

The

focal plane In Gaussian optics, the cardinal points consist of three pairs of points located on the optical axis of a rotationally symmetric, focal, optical system. These are the '' focal points'', the principal points, and the nodal points. For ''ideal'' ...

height of the lightsource measures 63 metres above mean sea level and thereby it is one of the highest lights along the German

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian S ...

shore. The tower itself is 41.8 metres tall, which makes its top reach 67.4 metres above msl. The range of the white sector amounts to 23.3

nautical mile A nautical mile is a unit of length used in air, marine, and space navigation, and for the definition of territorial waters. Historically, it was defined as the meridian arc length corresponding to one minute ( of a degree) of latitude. Today ...

s. The

lens A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements''), ...

is made up of 16 panels of converging lenses. The light character is "Fl, 7.5s", i.e. a single flashing light with an interval of 7.5 seconds. A 230 V/250 V halogen metal vapour lamp is used as lantern.

History

An article on the loss of three vessels around the islands of

and

Sylt Sylt (; da, Sild; Sylt North Frisian, Söl'ring North Frisian: ) is an island in northern Germany, part of Nordfriesland district, Schleswig-Holstein, and well known for the distinctive shape of its shoreline. It belongs to the North Frisian ...

, published in the ''Hamburger Zeitung'' in 1868, sparked a controversial debate among experts about where to build a lighthouse in the area. In 1872 it was decided that a lighthouse be built atop a 25 metres high dune on Amrum. Constructions were taken up in 1873 but turned into an obstacle course for all those involved.

Construction and activation

After five weeks only, the construction works had to be halted when the

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

stones for the spiral stairs were missing. When the shipment arrived, a number of workers went on strike and refused to set foot on the "dull" island. Yet the remaining workers and some additional auxiliary hands were able to finish the brick building until November 1874, and to install the first order

Fresnel lens A Fresnel lens ( ; ; or ) is a type of composite compact lens developed by the French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel (1788–1827) for use in lighthouses. It has been called "the invention that saved a million ships." The design allows the c ...

with its

Argand lamp The Argand lamp is a type of oil lamp invented in 1780 by Aimé Argand. Its output is 6 to 10 candelas, brighter than that of earlier lamps. Its more complete combustion of the candle wick and oil than in other lamps required much less frequent ...

of five wicks. The lens had been displayed at the Paris Exposition in 1867. Also, a dwelling house was built below the dune to host three lighthouse keepers. The "Amrum Wittdün Lighthouse" (''Leuchtfeuer Amrum Wittdün'') was officially activated on 1 January 1875, shortly before sunset. It was the first German lighthouse to be erected in

Nordfriesland Nordfriesland (; da, Nordfrisland; frr, Nordfraschlönj ), also known as North Frisia, is the northernmost district of Germany, part of the state of Schleswig-Holstein. It includes almost all of traditional North Frisia (with the exception o ...

. In 1936, the lantern was electrified and only in 1952 the lighthouse received its red and white marking. The last keeper left the lighthouse in 1984 when the facility had become automated.

The optic

The 2.7 metres tall optic with a weight of 2.9

tonnes The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United States ...

is extremely precious. Its current value is put at five million

Euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

. Some parts have – compared to today's standards – extremely high durability. For example, a

ball-bearing A ball bearing is a type of rolling-element bearing that uses ball (bearing), balls to maintain the separation between the bearing (mechanical), bearing race (bearing), races. The purpose of a ball bearing is to reduce rotational friction and ...

which carried the entire optic had to be changed only in 1993, 118 years after the lighthouse's activation.

In popular culture

Amrum Lighthouse was featured on two German stamps by

Deutsche Post The Deutsche Post AG, operating under the trade name Deutsche Post DHL Group, is a German multinational package delivery and supply chain management company headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It is one of the world's largest courier companies. T ...

in 2005 and 2008.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Lighthouses completed in 1874 Lighthouses in Schleswig-Holstein Amrum Buildings and structures in Nordfriesland