Paphos Lighthouse is a well known

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 ...

on the island of

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

, near to the city of

Paphos Paphos ( el, Πάφος ; tr, Baf) is a coastal city in southwest Cyprus and the capital of Paphos District. In classical antiquity, two locations were called Paphos: Old Paphos, today known as Kouklia, and New Paphos. The current city of Pap ...

. It is sited on a peninsula known as Paphos point which extends into the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

, at the south western end of the island. Built in 1888, when Cyprus was under British administration, the island was a key military base protecting the route of ships travelling through the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...

to the

colonies In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...

. The light acted as a landfall marker for shipping destined for Paphos harbour from Britain. The 20m high whitewashed masonry tower has a single gallery and lantern. Enclosing the tower is a compound containing the keeper's house and outbuildings. With a focal height of 36m above the sea, its light can be seen for 17 nautical miles, and consists of a long flash of white light every fifteen seconds.

References

Lighthouses in Cyprus Lighthouses completed in 1888 Buildings and structures in Paphos {{lighthouse-stub

See also

References