0201. Germany - Helgoland Lighthouse

Helgoland, a small island in the North Sea.   Helgoland is a popular tourist attraction accessible by ferry from Hamburg.

The British Lighthouse Agency, Trinity House built the first lighthouse here, an 18 meter stone tower in 1811.  A first-order lantern and lens was installed in 1870.  In 1901, the Germans replaced the British Lighthouse with a 36 meter stone tower and transferred the 1870 lantern and lens to the Staberhuk Lighthouse on the island of Fehmarn in the Baltic.  During WWII, the 1901 Lighthouse was destroyed.

The present Lighthouse was actually built in 1941 as an anti-aircraft observation tower which was converted into a Lighthouse in 1952.  The Lighthouse was located on the western side of Hauptinsel Helgoland. 

The Helgoland Lighthouse was commemorated by Deutsche Bundespost with the release of a 30 pfennig Heligoland Series Tourism stamp on 20-Oct-1972. 

Built in the year 1952,  the HELGOLAND Lighthouse:

• Tower is SQUARE 9-storey steel and concrete building with brick vaneer
• Top of the tower is crowded with communication and radar antennas
• Height is 35 metres
• Colour scheme of the LIGHT is WHITE
• LIGHT character is a FLASH every 5 seconds

My sincere thanks to Reto Muller from Switzerland for sending me this commercially used envelope having the Heligoland Series tourism stamp.