The Santa Marta Lighthouse is situated to the south of the centre of
Cascais
Cascais () is a town and municipality in the Lisbon District of Portugal, located on the Portuguese Riviera. The municipality has a total of 214,158 inhabitants in an area of 97.40 km2. Cascais is an important tourism in Portugal, tourist de ...
,
Lisbon District
Lisbon District ( pt, Distrito de Lisboa, ) is a district located along the western coast of Portugal. The district capital is the city of Lisbon, which is also the national capital. From its creation until 1926, it included the area of the cur ...
,
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
, on the estuary of the
River Tagus
The Tagus ( ; es, Tajo ; pt, Tejo ; see below) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales near Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally west with two main south-westward sections, to e ...
, providing a light for the Cascais Bay and for the town's new marina.
It is a quadrangular masonry tower covered with white tiles, with blue horizontal stripes and a red lantern. The
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 ...
was built on the grounds of the Santa Marta Fort, which now houses a lighthouse museum.
History
The Fort of Santa Marta was probably built in the 1640s, later than of the other fortresses that are distributed along the coast of Cascais, since it was not mentioned in the inventory of forts of Cascais made in 1646. This fortress was built with the intention of preventing the approach of enemies to the Cascais Bay area. In the second half of the eighteenth century the fortress was the object of additional work, the most significant being that of 1762–1763, during which the parapet was widened, and that of 1793, in which battery spaces and quarters were expanded.
The Lighthouse
In 1864 the fort was considered to be no longer militarily necessary. However, the strategic position its location had for military reasons also applied to navigation and it was decided to build a lighthouse on the site.
Concluded in 1867, the Santa Marta lighthouse started to signal its area of the coast of Cascais, crossing with the
Guia Lighthouse
The Guia Fortress ( pt, Fortaleza da Guia; ) is a 17th-century colonial military fort, chapel, and lighthouse complex in São Lázaro, Macau. The complex is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Historic Centre of Macau.
The view of the fortres ...
. In 1868, a small tower was added. A report from 1897 stated that the lighthouse had a fixed red light, given by a
dioptric lens directed by a
catoptric apparatus. This light was replaced by a 5th-order, fixed-light
catadioptric system
A catadioptric optical system is one where refraction and reflection are combined in an optical system, usually via lenses (dioptrics) and curved mirrors (catoptrics). Catadioptric combinations are used in focusing systems such as searchlights, he ...
in 1908. In 1936 the tower was increased in height by 8 meters, due to new buildings in the vicinity that impeded the existing light. In 1949 a foghorn system was installed featuring three seconds of sound followed by seven seconds of silence.
The lamp was electrified in 1953, and an automatic light source backup system was also installed, operated by acetylene incandescence. In 1964, a generator was installed thus negating the need for acetylene. Between 1980 and 1981 work was carried out on the complete automation of the lighthouse, which was included in the telecontrol network of the approaches of the Port of Lisbon and in 2000 a new monitoring system was added.
The Lighthouse Museum
Throughout the twentieth century, the fort and lighthouse of Santa Marta gradually became degraded, leading to a proposal to revitalize the space. The restored fort and new Lighthouse Museum were subsequently opened in July 2007. The combination of a working lighthouse together with a lighthouse museum is unique in Portugal.
The collection of the Santa Marta Lighthouse Museum was entirely established by the
Portuguese Navy
The Portuguese Navy ( pt, Marinha Portuguesa, also known as ''Marinha de Guerra Portuguesa'' or as ''Armada Portuguesa'') is the naval branch of the Portuguese Armed Forces which, in cooperation and integrated with the other branches of the Port ...
. The exhibition area is divided into two spaces in the former residences of the lighthouse keepers.
*Room 1 - Portuguese Lighthouses: This provides information on the history of lighthouses in Portugal and provides exhibits of the technology used. The exhibition includes large Fresnel lenses, with special emphasis on the former optical apparatus of the
Berlenga Lighthouse
Berlenga lighthouse ( pt, Farol da Berlenga), also known as the Duke of Bragança Lighthouse, is a functioning lighthouse situated on the highest point of the granite island of Berlenga Grande (Great Berlenga), which is a nature reserve in the At ...
that is 3,70m tall.
*Room 2 - Santa Marta, from Fort to Lighthouse and The Craft of the Lighthouseman focuses on the experience of the lighthouse of Santa Marta through the ages. It includes a keeper's diary, which records in great detail the occurrences of foggy days and illuminated nights.
*In the small auditorium, a multilingual documentary film, ''The Lighthouses of Portugal - 5 centuries of history'', (15 minutes), tells its story through the testimony of lighthouse keepers.
The visitor to the museum also has access to the batteries of the old fort, and its view to the sea and to the Bay of Cascais. Guided tours of the lighthouse are offered for one hour each day.
See also
*
List of lighthouses in Portugal
This is an alphabetical list of lighthouses in Portugal and its autonomous regions.
Norte
* Casa do Facho em Fão (Esposende, Apúlia e Fão)
* Farol de Azurara (Vila do Conde, Azurara)
* Farol de Esposende (Esposende, Esposende, Marinhas ...
*
Directorate of Lighthouses, Portugal
The Directorate of Lighthouses in Portugal (''Direção de Faróis'') is responsible for managing the country's 47 lighthouses, as well as other marine navigation activities. It is headquartered in Paço de Arcos.
Lighthouses have played an impo ...
References
External links
*
*
{{Bastion forts in Portugal, state=collapsed
Lighthouses in Portugal
Buildings and structures in Cascais