Lågskär Lighthouse is an automated

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 ...

located on the north side of

Lågskär Lågskär ( Swedish for "low skerry") is a small island within the Åland archipelago of Finland. It belongs to the municipality of Lemland. It is situated about south of Mariehamn in the Baltic's Sea of Åland. The main island of Lågskär me ...

, one of Finland's

Åland Åland ( , ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland. Receiving its autonomy by a 1920 decision of the League of Nations, it is the smallest region of Finland by both area () and population (30,54 ...

in the

Sea of Åland The Åland Sea (or the Sea of Åland; , ) is a waterway in the southern Gulf of Bothnia, between Åland and Sweden. It connects the Bothnian Sea with the Baltic Proper, Baltic Sea proper. The western part of the basin is in Swedish territorial w ...

of the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages *Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...

. It is the only striking feature on Lågskär on the generally uninhabited island. The lighthouse is designed as a concrete tower, square in shape, with a lantern and gallery. The lens has a focal plane of with white light flashing every 12 seconds. The light has run on

wind power Wind power is the use of wind energy to generate useful work. Historically, wind power was used by sails, windmills and windpumps, but today it is mostly used to generate electricity. This article deals only with wind power for electricity ge ...

since 1986. While the ground floor of the site is open, the tower itself is closed. It is maintained by the Finnish Maritime Administration, and the buildings are often let out to ornithologists studying on the island.

History

A wooden lighthouse was built in 1840 on northwestern tip of the island and was rebuilt in 1859 as a masonry structure. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, it was destroyed by

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

bombardment. A temporary structure was erected thereafter. The present lighthouse was constructed in 1920. It introduced a rotating gas lighting device, which was the first of its kind in the world. There is a commemorative postage stamp of the Lågskär Lighthouse, part of Åland's "Lighthouses series", with a denomination of 2.10

Finnish markka The markka (; ; currency symbol, sign: mk; ISO 4217, ISO code: FIM), also known as the Finnish mark, was the currency of Finland from 1860 until 28 February 2002, when it ceased to be legal tender. The markka was divided into 100 penny, pennies ...

(fm). It was issued on 8 May 1992 and remained valid until 30 June 2002.

Architecture and features

The light is designed as a concrete tower, square in shape, with a lantern and gallery. The tower is painted red and the lantern white. There is also a -storey keeper's house and other light station buildings. It is a functional navigational guide and has a range of . The lens has a focal plane of with white light flashing every 12 seconds. The lighthouse has run on

since 1986. Since automation, the outbuildings and the tower have been used as an

ornithological Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

station.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lagskar Lighthouse Lighthouses in Finland Buildings and structures in Åland Buildings and structures completed in 1840 Lighthouses completed in 1840 Lighthouses completed in 1920

History

Architecture and features

See also

References

External links