Lindesnes Lighthouse Museum – A journey through time and tide

The southernmost point in mainland Norway is also where you find Norway’s first lighthouse, Lindesnes Lighthouse. Its light was first lit in 1656. Lindesnes has been an important landmark for those sailing between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea since the Middle Ages, and is a place of great cultural and historical Importance.

Lindesnes Lighthouse is steeped in history. This is where the North Sea meets the Skagerrak Sea. Many ships have gone aground in this area, due to storms and strong ocean currents, so a lighthouse was desperately needed.

The lighthouse experiences all types of weather.

The Lindesnes Lighthouse Museum Foundation was founded in 1992, to safeguard the lighthouse as a protected cultural monument and share its history and coastal culture. “So much of the old lighthouse is intact, while the landscape around the facility is so wild,” says Espen Frøysland, the museum’s director.

Due to terrible weather in the autumn of 1655, the coal shipment from England never made it across the North Sea. The three-storey wooden lighthouse used candles instead, which was not a great substitute. The light went out, not even a year after it opened. It would take 69 years before the light was lit again, in 1725. This time as a coal brazier placed directly on the peninsula’s stone ground.

Sunset from the lighthouse tower.

Almost 100 years later, in 1822, the brazier was moved inside. A closed lantern room was built on a brick foundation with ducts to ensure an even burning, and this foundation is still preserved. The lighthouse was rebuilt in 1854 and fitted with a first order lens and a modern kerosene wick burner. This lens was moved into a new cast iron tower in 1915 and a new engine house was added in 1920, with the addition of fog sirens.

The blue hour.

During the occupation by Germany throughout World War II, the Germans built a fort, where almost 400 men were stationed, with bunkers and passages underneath the lighthouse. A large part of the underground complex has been restored and is now available to the public.

Where there are lighthouses, there is often rough weather, but visitors should not be put off. “Lindesnes Lighthouse Museum is exciting in all seasons,” assures Frøysland. “The weather can be spectacular, with storms and rain or snow, but also completely quiet with sunsets where the sky lights up in all colours from yellow to violet.”

Web: www.lindesnesfyr.no
Facebook: lindesnesfyr
Instagram: @lindesnesfyr