Geitungen Lighthouse ( no, Geitungen fyr) is a
coastal 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 mark ...
in the municipality of
Karmøy in
Rogaland
Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Vestfold og Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. In 2020, it had a population of 47 ...
county,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
. The lighthouse is located on a small island about off the southern tip of the main island of
Karmøy. The entrance to the harbor of the town of
Skudeneshavn lies about northeast of the lighthouse. The island is accessible only by boat. The lighthouse was established in 1924 and it was automated in 1994. It was listed as a protected site in 1998.
Technical specifications
The tall lighthouse emits a white, red or green light, depending on direction,
occulting
An occultation is an event that occurs when one object is hidden from the observer by another object that passes between them. The term is often used in astronomy, but can also refer to any situation in which an object in the foreground blocks ...
once every six seconds. The light sits at an elevation of above sea level on top of an
octagonal prism
In geometry, the octagonal prism is the sixth in an infinite set of prisms, formed by rectangular sides and two regular octagon caps.
If faces are all regular, it is a semiregular polyhedron.
Symmetry
Images
The octagonal prism can also b ...
tower. The concrete masonry tower is attached to a U-shaped one-story lighthouse keeper's house. The lighthouse is painted white and the roof is red. The lighthouse also emits a
racon signal, using the morse code letter "G". The racon signal can be received inside a radius of the lighthouse.
History
The lighthouse was established in 1924 as a replacement for
Skudenes Lighthouse,
[ which had operated from 1799 to 1924.
Geitungen Lighthouse was designed by Jørgen H. Meinich, who later also designed ]Makkaur Lighthouse
Makkaur Lighthouse ( no, Makkaur fyr) is a coastal lighthouse located on the northern coast of the Varanger Peninsula in Båtsfjord Municipality, Finnmark county, Norway.
History
The lighthouse was established in 1928, destroyed during World Wa ...
. The argument for a new location, was the need for a foghorn
A foghorn or fog signal is a device that uses sound to warn vehicles of navigational hazards such as rocky coastlines, or boats of the presence of other vessels, in foggy conditions. The term is most often used in relation to marine transport. W ...
. The diaphone at Geitungen Lighthouse was the first diaphone installed in Norway.[ and was listed as a protected site in 1998.][ The protected site includes the lighthouse and three technical buildings.]
Tourist station
The living house associated with Geitungen Lighthouse is operated as a tourist station by the Norwegian Trekking Association, through its Haugesund
Haugesund () is a municipality on the North Sea in Rogaland county, Norway. While the population is greater in the neighboring Karmøy municipality, the main commercial and economic centre of the Haugaland region in northern Rogaland and southern ...
chapter (). It has 35 beds available for visitors. The site is only accessible by boat.
See also
*Lighthouses in Norway
The coast of Norway is 100,915 km long and there have been a total of 212 lighthouses along it, but no more than 154 have ever been operational at the same time. The first, Lindesnes Lighthouse, opened in 1655; the newest Lighthouse, Anda, ...
*List of lighthouses in Norway
The following is a sortable, but partial list of active and some decommissioned lighthouses along the Norwegian coastline.
The sequence number follows the convention of listing lighthouses from the coastal border in the south with Sweden around ...
References
External links
Norsk Fyrhistorisk Forening
{{DEFAULTSORT:Geitungen Lighthouse
Lighthouses completed in 1924
Lighthouses in Rogaland
Listed lighthouses in Norway
Karmøy