Slettnes Lighthouse ( no, Slettnes fyr) is the northernmost mainland
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 Earth. It is located in
Gamvik Municipality
( sme, Gáŋgaviika) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Mehamn. The other main villages in Gamvik include Gamvik and Skjånes. Gamvik is known as one of the ...
in
Troms og Finnmark
Troms og Finnmark (; sme, Romsa ja Finnmárku ; fkv, Tromssa ja Finmarkku; fi, Tromssa ja Finnmark, lit. Troms and Finnmark in English language, English), is a Counties of Norway, county in Northern Norway, northern Norway that was established ...
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 sits along the
Barents Sea
The Barents Sea ( , also ; no, Barentshavet, ; russian: Баренцево море, Barentsevo More) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territo ...
approximately north of the village of
Gamvik
( sme, Gáŋgaviika) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Mehamn. The other main villages in Gamvik include Gamvik and Skjånes. Gamvik is known as one of the poo ...
on the northern coast of the
Nordkinn Peninsula
Cape Nordkinn ( no, Kinnarodden or ) at is the northernmost point on the Nordkinn Peninsula in county, Norway. It is notable for being the northernmost point of mainland Norway, and by extension the northernmost point of mainland Europe. The c ...
, within the
Slettnes Nature Reserve. The lighthouse is the only
cast iron
Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...
lighthouse in
Finnmark
Finnmark (; se, Finnmárku ; fkv, Finmarku; fi, Ruija ; russian: Финнмарк) was a county in the northern part of Norway, and it is scheduled to become a county again in 2024.
On 1 January 2020, Finnmark was merged with the neighbouri ...
county.
This is the easternmost of the three Nordkapp area lighthouses, and it is often considered the North Cape Light, marking the "top" of Europe.
Fruholmen Lighthouse
Fruholmen Lighthouse ( no, Fruholmen fyr, former name ''Norskholmen fyr'') is a coastal lighthouse located in Måsøy Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It sits on a tiny islet just off the northern coast of the island of Ingøya.
...
is located about farther north, on the island of
Ingøya
Ingøya ( sme, Fávle-Iččát) is an island on the edge of the Arctic Ocean in Måsøy Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The island lies just north of the island of Rolvsøya and west of the island of Hjelmsøya. The sparsely ...
, but the Slettnes Lighthouse is the northernmost lighthouse on the mainland of Scandinavia.
History
This lighthouse was built from 1903 to 1905. The round cast iron tower is tall and it is painted red with two white horizontal bands. The light on top emits one long (2.5 sec) white flash every 20 seconds. The light burns from 12 August until 24 April each year. It doesn't burn during the summer due to the
midnight sun
The midnight sun is a natural phenomenon that occurs in the summer months in places north of the Arctic Circle or south of the Antarctic Circle, when the Sun remains visible at the local midnight. When the midnight sun is seen in the Arctic, t ...
.
In 1922 the lighthouse got a foghorn with a siren, which gave a signal every thirty seconds, helping in fog and bad visibility. The foghorn could be heard in form of a one to two tone signal with a range of . The fog horn was in use until 1985.
The lighthouse was heavily damaged during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
by German troops, but it was painstakingly restored after the war. The restored station was designed by architects Blakstad and Munthe-Kaas and it was completed in 1948. The station is owned by the
Kystverket
Norwegian Coastal Administration ( no, Kystverket) is a Norwegian government agency responsible for the water transport infrastructure along the 9,200 km Coast of Norway. It is responsible for coastal navigation infrastructure, pilotage a ...
and managed by Gamvik Municipality as a tourist center, and overnight accommodations are available in the station buildings. In 1998, the lighthouse was listed as a heritage site. The lighthouse was automated in 2005.
Gallery
File:Slettnes lighthouse 08.jpg, Slettnes lighthouse
File:Slettnes lighthouse 01.jpg, Slettnes lighthouse
File:Slettnes lighthouse 04.jpg, Slettnes lighthouse, stairs
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
View a map on Google street viewslettneslighthouse.comNorsk Fyrhistorisk Forening
{{Authority control
Gamvik
Lighthouses completed in 1905
Lighthouses in Troms og Finnmark
1905 establishments in Norway