Cape Bojeador Lighthouse Landscaped Gardens

Cape Bojeador Lighthouse, also known as Burgos Lighthouse, is a

cultural heritage Cultural heritage is the heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations. Not all heritages of past generations are "heritage"; rather, heritage is a product of selection by soci ...

structure in

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of t ...

Ilocos Norte Ilocos Norte, officially the Province of Ilocos Norte ( ilo, Probinsia ti Ilocos Norte; tl, Lalawigan ng Ilocos Norte), is a province of the Philippines located in the Ilocos Region. Its capital is Laoag City, located in the northwest corner of ...

, that was established during the Spanish Colonial period in the Philippines. 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 ...

was first lit on March 30, 1892, and is set high on Vigia de Nagpartian Hill overlooking the scenic Cape Bojeador where early

galleons Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships first used as armed cargo carriers by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries during the age of sail and were the principal vessels drafted for use as warships until the Anglo-Dutch Wa ...

used to sail by. After over 100 years, it still functions and serves ships that enter the Philippine archipelago from the north and guide them safely away from the rocky coast of the town.
Burgos Ilocos Norte
''. Pasyalan Ilocos Norte. Retrieved on April 23, 2010. The light marks the northwesternmost point in

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

. The northeasternmost being

Cape Engaño Lighthouse Cape Engaño Lighthouse, also known as Faro de Cabo Engaño (Filipino: Parola ng Tangos Engaño), is a historic lighthouse located at Cape Engaño on Palaui Island in the town of Santa Ana, the province of Cagayan, Philippines. Located at the ...

Palaui Island The Palaui Island Protected Landscape and Seascape is an island that is a protected area and national park in the municipality of Santa Ana in Cagayan, Philippines. It is located off the northeastern extremity of Luzon Island. Geography Pala ...

, Santa Ana,

Cagayan Cagayan ( ), officially the Province of Cagayan ( ilo, Probinsia ti Cagayan; ibg, Provinsiya na Cagayan; itv, Provinsiya ya Cagayan; fil, Lalawigan ng Cagayan), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the C ...

. The octagonal stone tower, the most prominent structure in the vicinity, can be seen from as far away as

Pasuquin Pasuquin, officially the Municipality of Pasuquin ( ilo, Ili ti Pasuquin; tgl, Bayan ng Pasuquin), is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Ilocos Norte, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 29,678 people. Pa ...

town in the south and

Bangui Bangui () (or Bangî in Sango, formerly written Bangi in English) is the capital and largest city of the Central African Republic. It was established as a French outpost in 1889 and named after its location on the northern bank of the Ubangi ...

on the east on a clear day. Contrary to popular belief, it is not the highest-elevated nor tallest lighthouse in the Philippines but the highest-elevated still original and active Spanish era lighthouse in the country. Corregidor Lighthouse is higher at over , and among the Spanish colonial lighthouses, the tower of Cape Melville Lighthouse is the tallest at . In

Mindoro Strait The Mindoro Strait ( tgl, Kipot ng Mindoro) is one of the straits connecting the South China Sea with the Sulu Sea in the Philippines. It separates Mindoro Island from Busuanga Island (one of the Calamian Islands of Palawan Province). Located bet ...

, the recently erected modern tower at the

Apo Reef Apo Reef is a coral reef system in the Philippines situated in the western waters of Occidental Mindoro province in the Mindoro Strait. Encompassing , it is considered the world's second-largest contiguous coral reef system, and is the largest in ...

Light Station rises to a height of .

History

The Cape Bojeador lighthouse was part of the Spanish government's 1857 master plan of illuminating the Philippine archipelago, ''Plan General de Alumbrado de Maritimo de las costas del Archipelago de Filipino'', administered by ''Inteligencia del Cuerpo de Ingenieros de Caminos, Canales y Puertos''. The project commenced with the execution of the lighthouses in the northern and western part of the Philippines and those around Iloilo and Cebu. The 16.3 m tall ''Faro de Cabo Bojeador'' was first lit on March 30, 1892.

Design

The lighthouse was first designed by Magin Pers y Perswho in 1887 and was finished by the Lighthouse Service under Guillermo Brockman.Coronado, Cynthia (2008).
Cape Bojeador Lighthouse Marker
'. Waypointsdotph. Retrieved on April 23, 2010. Its design is typical of Spanish colonial lighthouses in the Philippines, being of masonry made with bricks widely used and produced in the area. The octagonal tower is topped with a bronze

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, from ...

, and the viewing

gallery Gallery or The Gallery may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Art gallery ** Contemporary art gallery Music * Gallery (band), an American soft rock band of the 1970s Albums * ''Gallery'' (Elaiza album), 2014 album * ''Gallery'' (Gr ...

is surrounded by decorative iron grill works.Noche, Manuel (July 27, 2006).
Cape Bojeador Lighthouse
'. Heritage Conservation Society. Retrieved on April 23, 2010.

Lighting apparatus

The lighthouse was originally fitted with

first-order In mathematics and other formal sciences, first-order or first order most often means either: * "linear" (a polynomial of degree at most one), as in first-order approximation and other calculus uses, where it is contrasted with "polynomials of high ...

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 ...

. The intense earthquake of 1990 that hit most of Luzon damaged the lenses and displaced the mechanism alignment of the original first-order apparatus, making it inoperable. The beam now comes from a modern electric lamp powered by

solar panel A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a photo ...

s. The light before was provided by pressurized kerosene lamps very much like "Coleman lamps". In 2005, the old pressure vessels and wicks for the light could still be found in the shed.

Historical markers

Cape Bojeador Lighthouse was declared a National Historical Landmark on August 13, 2004, and a National Cultural Treasure on June 20, 2005, by the Philippine government.

Notes

References

* *

External links

Cape Bojeador Lighthouse
at Lighthouse Depot.

at the Philippine Coast Guard web site.

{{Authority control Lighthouses completed in 1892 Lighthouses in the Philippines Buildings and structures in Ilocos Norte Lighthouse museums Spanish colonial infrastructure in the Philippines National Historical Landmarks of the Philippines National Cultural Treasures of the Philippines Tourist attractions in Ilocos Norte