Barra Rio Grande Lighthouse is an active lighthouse located on a sandy strip between the

Lagoa dos Patos Lagoa dos Patos (, , ; English: ''Ducks' Lagoon'') is the largest lagoon in Brazil and the largest coastal lagoon in South America. It is located in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil. It covers an area of , is long and has a maximu ...

and the

South Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe and ...

in the municipality of

São José do Norte São José do Norte is a municipality in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. As of 2020, the estimated population was 27,721. See also *List of municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul This is a list of the municipalities in the state of Rio ...

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 ...

History

The first lighthouse, a lantern atop the tower of the Commander of the Port, was established since 1 December 1820, but went out of order at the first storm. Since then a fire was lit in order to direct safely the ships to the harbour. In 1827 was asked to

Pedro I of Brazil Don (honorific), Dom Pedro I (English: Peter I; 12 October 1798 – 24 September 1834), nicknamed "the Liberator", was the founder and List of monarchs of Brazil, first ruler of the Empire of Brazil. As King Dom Pedro IV, he List of ...

to rebuild the lighthouse, only on 2 August 1842 it was relit. In 1847 a new cylindrical prefabricated

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

lighthouse, high, was commissioned in London and on 18 January 1852 was lit. At first the lantern was equipped with a

catoptrics Catoptrics (from grc-gre, κατοπτρικός ''katoptrikós'', "specular", from grc-gre, κάτοπτρον ''katoptron'' "mirror") deals with the phenomena of reflected light and image-forming optical systems using mirrors. A catoptric sy ...

system replaced in 1886 by a 2nd order of

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 ...

built by Barbier and Fenestre. The lighthouse was painted in red, then in dark red and at last with black and white horizontal bands. The lantern emits a white occulting light (Oc (6) W 21 seconds) visible up to . The lighthouse is managed by

Brazilian Navy ) , colors= Blue and white , colors_label= Colors , march= "Cisne Branco" ( en, "White Swan") (same name as training ship ''Cisne Branco'' , mascot= , equipment= 1 multipurpose aircraft carrier7 submarines6 frigates2 corvettes4 amphibious warf ...

and is identified by the country code number BR-4008.

References

External links

Centro de Sinalização Náutica Almirante Moraes Rego
Lighthouses in Brazil {{Brazil-struct-stub