The Barra Lighthouse ( pt, Farol da Barra) also known as the Santo Antônio Lighthouse ( pt, Farol de Santo Antônio), is a lighthouse in
Salvador, Bahia
Salvador (English: ''Savior'') is a Brazilian municipality and capital city of the state of Bahia. Situated in the Zona da Mata in the Northeast Region of Brazil, Salvador is recognized throughout the country and internationally for its cuisine ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. It is located at the tip of the Padrão, now the Point of Santo Antônio, to the extreme south of Salvador, at the entrance of the
Bay of All Saints
The Bay of All Saints ( pt, Baía de Todos os Santos), also known as All Saints' Bay and Todos os Santos Bay, is the principal bay of the Brazilian state of Bahia, to which it gave its name. It sits on the eastern coast of Brazil, surrounding pa ...
. The lighthouse was built at the center of the
Santo Antônio da Barra Fort.
The current lighthouse is the second built the site. The first was built of ''
taipa
Taipa ( zh, t=氹仔, ; pt, Taipa, ) was a former island in Macau, presently united with the island of Coloane by reclaimed land known as Cotai. Administratively, the boundaries of the traditional civil parish Freguesia de Nossa Senhora do Ca ...
'', and was the second built in the Americas, after the old
Friborg Palace in
Recife
That it may shine on all ( Matthew 5:15)
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. The current structure was built in 1839 and dedicated by
Dom Pedro II
Don (honorific), Dom PedroII (2 December 1825 – 5 December 1891), nicknamed "the Magnanimity, Magnanimous" ( pt, O Magnânimo), was the List of monarchs of Brazil, second and last monarch of the Empire of Brazil, reigning for over 58 years. ...
of Brazil. It is constructed of masonry and painted with black and white bands. The lighthouse is a -high tapered tower with a
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 ...
dating to 1890. The fort and lighthouse were listed as historic structures by the
National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute
The National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute (, IPHAN) is a heritage register of the federal government of Brazil. It is responsible for the preservation of buildings, monuments, structures, objects and sites, as well as the register and ...
in 1938.
First lighthouse
The first lighthouse at Barra was built due to the expansion of commerce and slavery in Bahia in the 17th century. The port at Salvador was the principal point of the Atlantic slave trade in Brazil. The region, in turn, exported sugar, cotton, tobacco, and timber to the European consumer market.
Galeão Santíssimo Sacramento suffered a tragic shipwreck on May 5, 1668 on the sand bank at the mouth of the Vermelho River due to a lack of a lighthouse in the area. The Fort of Santo Antônio da Barra, which had been rebuilt in 1696 under the government of
João de Lencastre
João is the Portuguese equivalent of the given name John. The diminutive is Joãozinho and the feminine is Joana. It is widespread in Portuguese-speaking countries. Notable people with the name are enumerated in the sections below.
Kings
* J ...
(1694-1702), built a quadrangular turret in the fort topped by a glazed bronze lantern. The square shape of the lighthouse, in contrast to the cylindrical structure of today, is seen in ''Cartas Soteropolitanas'' in the late 18th century by Luís dos Santos Vilhena. It was powered by whale oil, and came to be called Vigia da Barra or Farol da Barra.
The logbook of the English privateer
William Dampier
William Dampier (baptised 5 September 1651; died March 1715) was an English explorer, pirate, privateer, navigator, and naturalist who became the first Englishman to explore parts of what is today Australia, and the first person to circumnav ...
, in 1699, record: "The entrance to the Todos os Santos Bay is defended by the imposing Fort of Santo Antônio, whose lamps are lit and suspended to guide the ships, which we saw at night."
Second lighthouse
![Farol da Barra 1921](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Farol_da_Barra_1921.png)
After the exit of the Portuguese from Brazil regulatory Decree of July 6, 1832 mandated the installation of a more modern lighthouse at Barra. The government ordered a lighthouse manufactured in England to replace the old one. It was dedicated by Dom Pedro II on December 2, 1839. It had a
catoptric reflector, lighted by kerosene, and was visible for eighteen nautical miles in clear weather. The old "Barbier" kerosene incandescent lighting system was replaced by electric light in 1937. The lighthouse, like others in Brazil, is owned by the
Brazilian Navy
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, mascot=
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. It is maintained by the Signaling Boating Center "Almirante Moraes Rêgo" (''Centro de Auxílios à Navegação Almirante Moraes Rego'') (CAMR) of the Hydrography and Navigation Directorate (''Diretoria de Hidrografia e Navegacão'') (DHN). The Barra Lighthouse is a visual icon of Salvador and references to it appear in literature, art, and film.
Protected status
The Santo Antônio da Barra Fort and the Barra Lighthouse are protected as a historic structures by the
National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage
The National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute (, IPHAN) is a heritage register of the federal government of Brazil. It is responsible for the preservation of buildings, monuments, structures, objects and sites, as well as the register and ...
. The fort was listed as a historic structure in 1938.
Access
The Barra Lighthouse, unlike others in Brazil, is open to the public and may be visited.
References
{{Authority control
Lighthouses completed in 1839
Lighthouses in Brazil
Buildings and structures in Salvador, Bahia
Tourist attractions in Salvador, Bahia
Transport in Salvador, Bahia
1839 establishments in Brazil