Grønningen Lighthouse () 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 lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways.
Ligh ...
in the municipality of
Kristiansand
Kristiansand is a city and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder county, Norway. The city is the fifth-largest and the municipality is the sixth-largest in Norway, with a population of around 116,000 as of January 2020, following th ...
in
Agder
Agder is a counties of Norway, county () and districts of Norway, traditional region in the southern part of Norway and is coextensive with the Southern Norway region. The county was established on 1 January 2020, when the old Vest-Agder and Au ...
county,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
. The lighthouse was built in 1878 to improve the marking of the shipping lane into Kristiansand harbor. In 1842, the Russian
ship-of-the-line
A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactic known as the line of battle, which involved the two column ...
Ingermanland had collided with the Grønningen
islet
An islet ( ) is generally a small island. Definitions vary, and are not precise, but some suggest that an islet is a very small, often unnamed, island with little or no vegetation to support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and/ ...
, leading to a catastrophe. The current lighthouse sits on Grønningen, a bare islet in the
Kristiansandsfjord, and it marks the eastern side of the main shipping channel that leads inland to the port of the city of Kristiansand. The other lighthouse, which marks the western entrance,
Oksøy Lighthouse, lies about to the west.
The tall square concrete tower is white with a red roof. It is attached to one end of a -storey lighthouse keeper's house. The light sits at an elevation of and it emits two white, red, or green flashes (depending on direction) every ten seconds. The light is a 4th order
Fresnel lens
A Fresnel lens ( ; ; or ) is a type of composite compact lens (optics), lens which reduces the amount of material required compared to a conventional lens by dividing the lens into a set of concentric annular sections.
The simpler Dioptrics, d ...
. It can be seen for up to .
The lighthouse was first put into service on 1 September 1878. The station was staffed until 1980 and in 1994, the entire facility was protected by law as a national monument.
The lighthouse is operated by the ''Bragdøya kystlag'' foundation, and it is open to the public. During the summer holiday season, it can be used as a free hostel available for overnight stays.
See also
*
Lighthouses in Norway
The coast of Norway is 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 Lighthouse, w ...
*
List of lighthouses in Norway
The following is a sortable, but partial list of active and some decommissioned Lighthouses in Norway, lighthouses along the Norwegian coastline.
The sequence number follows the convention of listing lighthouses from the coastal border in the sou ...
References
External links
Norsk Fyrhistorisk Forening
Lighthouses completed in 1878
Lighthouses in Agder
Listed lighthouses in Norway
Buildings and structures in Kristiansand
{{Agder-geo-stub