Miķeļbāka or Miķeļtornis is the tallest

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 ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

. It is located in the village of

Miķeļtornis Miķeļtornis ( Livonian: Pizā) is a populated place in Tārgale parish, Ventspils municipality, Latvia. It is one of the twelve Livonian villages on the Livonian Coast. Miķeļbāka Lighthouse "Miķeļbāka" established in 1884 is lo ...

Tārgale Parish Tārgale is a village at the centre of Tārgale parish, Ventspils Municipality, Courland, Latvia. It is situated by the P122 road 13 km from the county council in Ventspils and 185 km from Riga. The name of Tārgale is first mentione ...

, Ventspils Municipality; about northeast of Ventspils.

Etymology

Legends date origins of the name to 1749, when Latvia was part of the Russian Empire and the coast was surveyed by Mikhail Ryabinin, a Russian

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest rank, in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Canada (Naval Cadet), Australia, Bangladesh, Namibia, New Zealand, South Afr ...

, therefore the lighthouse later built was called Mikhailovsky mayak (russian: Михайловский маяк – 'Mikhail's lighthouse'). After a period, the name was Latvianised to "Miķeļbāka”. At it is the tallest lighthouse tower in the Baltic States.

History

The first tower was completed in 1884 – a cylindrical tall brick structure, that—at the time—was the tallest lighthouse in Latvia. An electric light source was installed and supplied with electricity from a

power plant A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many pow ...

in a nearby building. In the early 20th century, cracks began to appear in the tower as still seen today.

World War I

In 1915 the light source and the generator were transported to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. During

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

occupation Occupation commonly refers to: *Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment *Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces *Military occupation, th ...

of Latvia, they installed an

acetylene Acetylene (systematic name: ethyne) is the chemical compound with the formula and structure . It is a hydrocarbon and the simplest alkyne. This colorless gas is widely used as a fuel and a chemical building block. It is unstable in its pure ...

light source. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the lighthouse was shelled by artillery. The original lighthouse was patched up, but it had to be demolished in 1932.

Independent Latvia (1918–1940)

In 1932, a temporary wooden tower, almost as high as the original, was built. The tower was finished in September 1934. A German optical device – a tall, fixed belt lens – was installed in the new wooden tower. The light source was a Swedish-made,

device. Depending on the distance, the light was either green or white.

Soviet occupation (1940–1941; 1944–1990)

1941 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January–August – 10,072 men, women and children with mental and physical disabilities are asphyxiated with carbon monoxide in a gas chamber, at Hadamar Eu ...

, during its retreat, the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

blew up the wooden lighthouse to keep it out of German hands. In 1946, a tall temporary tower was built.

Present day

The present-day Miķeļbāka lighthouse was built in 1957, documented in the sign above its front door. Two hundred and ninety-three steps lead to the top of the lighthouse, offering a view overlooking the surrounding Kurzeme coast of the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

and a lighthouse on the

Sõrve Peninsula Sõrve is a village in Harku Parish, Harju County in northern Estonia. (retrieved 27 July 2021) It has a population of 197 (as of 1 June 2010). Sõrve was first mentioned in 1241 as ''Serueueræ'' village in the Danish Census Book The Danish ...

of Saaremaa that can be seen in fine weather at a distance of . The current tower is high, the beacon having a focal height of above sea level, making it the tallest in the

Baltic states The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, ...

References

External links

Bakas 36

Bakas
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mikelbaka Lighthouses completed in 1884 Lighthouses completed in 1932 Lighthouses completed in 1946 Lighthouses completed in 1957 Resort architecture in Latvia Lighthouses in Latvia