The Klaipeda Lighthouse
is one of the oldest Lighthouse on the German Baltic. During World War II, the Lighthouse was destroyed. The Lighthouse is located on the North side of the entrance, at the North-Western edge of Klaipeda. The Lighthouse is the rear light of the range guiding ships through the narrow entrance between the end of the Curonian Spit and the mainland.
Klaipeda had no Lighthouse till 18th century. To guide the ships to the Dane Harbor, the first Lighthouse was built only in 1796 and it was rather short. The lighting contraption was made up of 6 bronze reflectors, which reflected light about 4 kms only. In 1819, the Lighthouse was heightened with very modern lighting system. This time, boats could see the lighting signal even beyond 30 kms.
There were various optical signals in the Lighthouse. If a red flag was displayed from the tower, it informed the boats that entrance to the harbour at this time was dangerous. A yellow one, its safe to sail. From 1937, the Lighthouse started sending radio signals
Before, World War, the Lighthouse was painted in Red and White squares, which is why it was referred to as Red Lighthouse. But, currently, it was painted Black and White horizontal bands. At the end of World War II, the lighthouse got destroyed and subsequently it was re-built and upgraded.
To commemorate the 760th anniversary of Klaipeda (formerly known as Memel), the oldest city in Lithuania, Lithuanian Post released a 2 Litas stamp of the Klaipeda Lighthouse on 14-Jul-2012.
Re-Built in the year 1953, the KLAIPEDA Lighthouse:
- Tower is ROUND CYLINDRICAL
- Tower mounted on a 2-storey OCTAGONAL concrete base
- Tower is painted with BLACK and WHITE HORIZONTAL bands
- Tower base painted BLACK
- Lantern and Gallery painted RED
- Height is 40 metres
- Colour scheme of the LIGHT is WHITE
- LIGHT character is 3 seconds ON; 3 seconds OFF
My sincere thanks to Vidmantas Stilius from Klaipeda, Lithuania for sending me this Klaipeda Lighthouse Stamp.
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