The Kullen Lighthouse () is an operational

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

Scania Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...

, located by the mouth of Öresund, at the point of

Kullaberg Kullaberg () is a peninsula and nature reserve protruding into the Kattegat in Höganäs Municipality near the town of Mölle in southwest Sweden. The site in the province of Skåne is an area of considerable biodiversity supporting a number of ...

peninsula A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...

, in

Höganäs Höganäs () is a locality and the seat of Höganäs Municipality, Scania County, Sweden. Its population was 14,107 in 2010. Höganäs is nationally known for its ceramics industry, Höganäs Keramik. Höganäs Keramik is part of Iittala Gr ...

, on the south-west coast of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. Kullen is one of the most prominent landmarks along the Swedish coastline, and with its 1000 Watt electric bulb in a huge lenshouse, also the most powerful lighthouse in

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

, overlooking one of the world's most heavily traveled waters. The lighthouse is 15 meters tall and its

focal plane In Gaussian optics, the cardinal points consist of three pairs of points located on the optical axis of a rotationally symmetric, focal, optical system. These are the '' focal points'', the principal points, and the nodal points; there are two ...

is located 78.5 meters above sea level making it the highest located lighthouse in Sweden. Every 5 seconds, the Kullen Lighthouse flashes white for 0.3 seconds with 27 nautical miles reach.

History

Kullen is the oldest lighthouse location in Scandinavia founded 1561 by the Danish king Fredrik II This lighthouse was a "Parrot lighthouse" with an iron casket 20 feet above ground. 1563 there was a new stone tower with 12 candlelight as source for light but already 1585 it was replaced with a covered lantern and from 1624 coal was used for light. During the centuries wood, candlelights, coal, oil, kerosene and electricity have been used to send out a beam that reached 50K as a minimum. The present lighthouse is built in

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

and brick and has three large 1 order Fresnel

lenses A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements''), ...

in a lens house that rotates four times per minute, hence giving twelve flashes per minute. Based on

Augustin-Jean Fresnel Augustin-Jean Fresnel (10 May 1788 – 14 July 1827) was a French civil engineer and physicist whose research in optics led to the almost unanimous acceptance of the wave theory of light, excluding any remnant of Isaac Newton, Newton's c ...

's design, the lens house was constructed by the French company Barbier & Barnard and delivered in the summer of 1900. It consists of three lenses of 2.58 m in

diameter In geometry, a diameter of a circle is any straight line segment that passes through the centre of the circle and whose endpoints lie on the circle. It can also be defined as the longest Chord (geometry), chord of the circle. Both definitions a ...

, weighs 6

metric ton The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1,000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton in the United States to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the sh ...

s and originally rotated on a base filled with 50 liters of mercury. The mercury was replaced in September 2016 with two bearings. The Kullen lighthouse was automated in 1979 and is remote-controlled by the Swedish Maritime Administration's check at

Norrköping Norrköping ( , ) is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County, about 160 km southwest of the national capital Stockholm, 40 km east of county seat Lin ...

. The last keeper left in 1996.

Area setting

The Kullen Lighthouse is situated within the

Kullaberg Nature Reserve Kullaberg () is a peninsula and nature reserve protruding into the Kattegat in Höganäs Municipality near the town of Mölle in southwest Sweden. The site in the province of Skåne is an area of considerable biodiversity supporting a number of ...

, a cliff and forest habitat for a variety of

rare species A rare species is a group of organisms that are very uncommon, scarce, or infrequently encountered. This designation may be applied to either a plant or animal taxon, and is distinct from the term ''endangered species, endangered'' or ''threatened ...

, criss-crossed by numerous hiking trails. Approximately three kilometers to the southeast is the harbour town of

Mölle Mölle is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality situated in Höganäs Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 715 inhabitants in 2010. It is best known for its scenic harbour and its location adjacent to the Kullaberg Nature Reserve. Its harbour, ...

References

External links

Kullens fyr

Sjofartsverket

{{Authority control Lighthouses completed in 1900 Lighthouses in Sweden Höganäs Municipality Buildings and structures in Skåne County 1900 establishments in Sweden 1900s establishments in Malmöhus County

History

Area setting

See also

References

Further reading

External links