Light House Hill is situated in

Hampankatta Hampankatta (pronounced as 'Hampanakatte' in Tulu and Kannada) is the centre of Mangalore City, Karnataka. Hampankatta also called as Happananakatte/Hampankatte/Hampananakatte/Hampanakatte. Most of the public utilities are located here and the ...

, the heart of

Mangalore City The Mangalore City Corporation is the municipal corporation responsible for overseeing the local administration of the Indian city of Mangalore and it's suburbs, which are a major urban area and the most important port city of karnataka state. ...

in the southern India. It was built by Hyder Ali and was used as watch tower for Sultanate of Mysore Navy.

Educational institutions

Light House Hill is the location of two famous educational institutions in Mangalore, namely St. Aloysius College and

Kasturba Medical College Kasturba Medical College, Manipal and Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, together known as KMC, are two private medical colleges in coastal Karnataka, India, established in 1953.St. Aloysius Chapel and the Idgah Mosque.

Public utilities

The City Central Library is located close to St Aloysius college. This library is run by the

Mangalore City Corporation The Mangalore City Corporation is the municipal corporation responsible for overseeing the local administration of the Indian city of Mangalore and it's suburbs, which are a major urban area and the most important port city of karnataka state. ...

. There are several branches for city central library within Mangalore.

The lighthouse

The first

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 ...

of Mangalore is located in the heart of the Mangalore city. This "Light House" was built by

Hyder Ali Hyder Ali ( حیدر علی, ''Haidarālī''; 1720 – 7 December 1782) was the Sultan and ''de facto'' ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in southern India. Born as Hyder Ali, he distinguished himself as a soldier, eventually drawing the att ...

, the de facto ruler of

Mysore Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...

and stood as the watch tower of Sultanate of Mysore Navy under him and great his great son

Tipu Sultan Tipu Sultan (born Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu, 1 December 1751 – 4 May 1799), also known as the Tiger of Mysore, was the ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India. He was a pioneer of rocket artillery.Dalrymple, p. 243 He int ...

. The huge watchtower in the hill served as a base for the British, from where many resident commanders of the British Navy would monitor the movement of travelling ships. The base of the light house has a library, with a reading room named after

Karnad Sadashiv Rao Karnad Sadashiva Rao was an Indian freedom fighter from what is now Karnataka, India. Rao was born to a wealthy south Indian family in 1881. He studied at Presidency College in Madras and also studied law in Mumbai. Rao became involved in t ...

, a renowned freedom fighter.

References

Lighthouses in India Buildings and structures in Mangalore Geography of Mangalore {{Mangalore-geo-stub