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The Directorate of Lighthouses in Portugal (''Direção de Faróis'') is responsible for managing the country's 47 lighthouses, as well as other marine navigation activities. It is headquartered in 
Twenty-eight of the lighthouses and a small museum at the headquarters can be visited, on Wednesday afternoons. There is another museum at the Santa Marta Lighthouse in Cascais, which is open all days except Monday.
The Directorate of Lighthouses in Portugal (''Direção de Faróis'') is responsible for managing the country's 47 lighthouses, as well as other marine navigation activities. It is headquartered in Paço de Arcos
Paço de Arcos () is a locality of Oeiras. In 2013, the parish of Paço de Arcos merged into the new parish Oeiras e São Julião da Barra, Paço de Arcos e Caxias. The population in 2011 was 15,315, in an area of 3.39 km². It was elevate ...
.
Lighthouses have played an important role in Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
's maritime history. Portuguese sailors launched and led the Age of Discovery
The Age of Discovery (or the Age of Exploration), also known as the early modern period, was a period largely overlapping with the Age of Sail, approximately from the 15th century to the 17th century in European history, during which seafarin ...
, and Portuguese ships have been sailing to far parts of the world for around 600 years. It is, therefore, not surprising that lighthouses have developed along the entire length of the country's coast and that today many are highly cherished national monuments. Since 1892, the Portuguese Navy
The Portuguese Navy ( pt, Marinha Portuguesa, also known as ''Marinha de Guerra Portuguesa'' or as ''Armada Portuguesa'') is the naval branch of the Portuguese Armed Forces which, in cooperation and integrated with the other branches of the Port ...
has been responsible for maintaining the lighthouse network on the coast of Portugal. This is the responsibility of its Directorate of Lighthouses, which is a part of the National Maritime Authority (''Autoridade Marítima Nacional''). The Directorate was founded in 1924 and is a member of the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities
The International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA), previously known as International Association of Lighthouse Authorities, is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1957 to collect and provide naut ...
. Its mission includes:
* Supporting, training and ensuring the technical and professional conduct of lighthouse keepers;
* Inspecting technical compliance, operation and maintenance of navigation aids;
* Installing, operating and maintaining aids for navigation (with the exception of inside ports);
* Ensuring the uniformity of aids to navigation, in accordance with international recommendations;
* Studying and proposing the creation of maritime signalling easement zones;
* Maintaining, preserving and repairing coastal lighthouse infrastructure;
* Managing the MMSIs (Maritime Mobile Service Identities) used in maritime signalling equipment.
The Directorate has a staff of 104, including military and civilians. It has the same number of lighthouse keepers, of which 60 cover the 28 lighthouses of the mainland, 34 the 15 lighthouses of the Azores
)
, motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace")
, anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores")
, image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg
, map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union
, map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...
and 10 the 4 lighthouses of Madeira. Its headquarters are at Paço de Arcos
Paço de Arcos () is a locality of Oeiras. In 2013, the parish of Paço de Arcos merged into the new parish Oeiras e São Julião da Barra, Paço de Arcos e Caxias. The population in 2011 was 15,315, in an area of 3.39 km². It was elevate ...
, near Lisbon and there are four Differential GPS
Differential Global Positioning Systems (DGPSs) supplement and enhance the positional data available from global navigation satellite systems (GNSSs). A DGPS for GPS can increase accuracy by about a thousandfold, from approximately to .
DGPSs c ...
Control Stations, at Cabo Carvoeiro Lighthouse, Peniche and the Sagres Lighthouse on the mainland and at Horta in the Azores and at Porto Santo on Madeira.
Twenty-eight of the lighthouses and a small museum at the headquarters can be visited, on Wednesday afternoons. There is another museum at the Santa Marta Lighthouse in Cascais, which is open all days except Monday.
See also
*List of lighthouses in Portugal
This is an alphabetical list of lighthouses in Portugal and its autonomous regions.
Norte
* Casa do Facho em Fão (Esposende, Apúlia e Fão)
* Farol de Azurara (Vila do Conde, Azurara)
* Farol de Esposende (Esposende, Esposende, Marinhas ...
References
External links
* {{coord, 38.6915, -9.2948, type:landmark_region:PT, display=title Lighthouses in Portugal