Saltholmen Lighthouse ( no, Saltholmen fyrstasjon) is a
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 ...
in
Lillesand
Lillesand () is municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sørlandet. The administrative center of the municipality is the town of Lillesand. Some of the larger villages in Lillesand municipality include ...
municipality in
Agder
Agder is a county (''fylke'') and traditional region in the southern part of Norway. The county was established on 1 January 2020, when the old Vest-Agder and Aust-Agder counties were merged. Since the early 1900s, the term Sørlandet ("south ...
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 ...
. It is located on a small island off the coast about southeast of the town of
Lillesand
Lillesand () is municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sørlandet. The administrative center of the municipality is the town of Lillesand. Some of the larger villages in Lillesand municipality include ...
. There has been a lighthouse here since 1882. The island (and lighthouse) are named ''Saltholmen'' (lit. ''"Salty Islet"''). This name comes from the salt extraction industry established by
Hans Nielsen Hauge
Hans Nielsen Hauge (3 April 1771 – 29 March 1824) was a 19th-century Norwegian Lutheran lay minister, spiritual leader, business entrepreneur, social reformer and author. He led a noted Pietism revival known as the Haugean movement. Hauge is also ...
that once was located there. The lighthouse is only accessible by boat and the site is open, but the building is not open to the public.
Current lighthouse
The present lighthouse was built in 1952 to replace the older building located on the same site. The present light sits on top of a tall square
frustum
In geometry, a (from the Latin for "morsel"; plural: ''frusta'' or ''frustums'') is the portion of a solid (normally a pyramid or a cone) that lies between two parallel planes cutting this solid. In the case of a pyramid, the base faces are p ...
-shaped metal skeleton tower that is painted white with a red roof. The light sits at an elevation of above sea level. The white, red, or green light (depending on direction) emits two flashes every 15 seconds. The light can be seen for up to .
History
The lighthouse was commissioned in 1882. The original lighthouse was built of
concrete
Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...
, and has an
octagon
In geometry, an octagon (from the Greek ὀκτάγωνον ''oktágōnon'', "eight angles") is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon.
A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, whi ...
al tower with a
spire
A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...
in a corner. The shape of the tower is rarely seen in Norway and the lighthouse is largely preserved as it was built. The lighthouse is therefore protected under the law on
cultural heritage
Cultural heritage is the heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations. Not all heritages of past generations are "heritage"; rather, heritage is a product of selection by soci ...
. The lighthouse was closed in 1952 and the present lighthouse was constructed immediately next to it.
The original lighthouse was white with a sharply pyramidal gray roof. The tall tower held a light that could be seen for up to . In 2012, the old lighthouse buildings were transferred to a non-profit foundation to preserve them as a museum.
See also
*
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 ...
*
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, ...
References
External links
Norsk Fyrhistorisk Forening
{{authority control
Lighthouses completed in 1882
Listed lighthouses in Norway
Lillesand
Lighthouses in Agder