Marstein Lighthouse ( no, Marstein fyrstasjon) is an active
lighthouse in the municipality of
Austevoll
Austevoll is a municipality and an archipelago in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Midthordland in Western Norway. The administrative centre is the village of Storebø on the island of Huftarøy. Other villa ...
, in
Vestland
Vestland is a county in Norway established on 1 January 2020. The county is located in Western Norway and it is centred around the city of Bergen, Norway's second largest city. The administrative centre of the county is the city of Bergen, whe ...
county,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
. It is located on the small island of
Store Marstein just west of the island of
Stora Kalsøy
Stora Enso Oyj (from sv, Stora and fi, Enso ) is a manufacturer of pulp, paper and other forest products, headquartered in Helsinki, Finland. The majority of sales takes place in Europe, but there are also significant operations in Asia and S ...
on the south side of the entrance to the
Korsfjorden and therefore assists ships going to both the city of
Bergen
Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula o ...
and to the
Hardangerfjorden
The Hardangerfjord ( en, Hardanger Fjord) is the fifth longest fjord in the world, and the second longest fjord in Norway. It is located in Vestland county in the Hardanger region. The fjord stretches from the Atlantic Ocean into the mountain ...
.
Description
The Marstein Lighthouse currently consists of a tall square, white, masonry tower with a red roof, and a single-storey service building attached. The light sits at an elevation of above sea level. It emits a white and red
isophase light
A light characteristic is all of the properties that make a particular navigational light identifiable. Graphical and textual descriptions of navigational light sequences and colours are displayed on nautical charts and in Light Lists with the cha ...
with a period of 4 seconds. The light has an intensity of 850,000
candela
The candela ( or ; symbol: cd) is the unit of luminous intensity in the International System of Units (SI). It measures luminous power per unit solid angle emitted by a light source in a particular direction. Luminous intensity is analogous t ...
and it can be seen for about . A secondary light is located at an elevation of above sea level and that emits a red light,
occulting
An occultation is an event that occurs when one object is hidden from the observer by another object that passes between them. The term is often used in astronomy, but can also refer to any situation in which an object in the foreground blocks ...
in groups of two.
History

The original
octagonal prism
In geometry, the octagonal prism is the sixth in an infinite set of prisms, formed by rectangular sides and two regular octagon caps.
If faces are all regular, it is a semiregular polyhedron.
Symmetry
Images
The octagonal prism can also ...
-shaped lighthouse was built on this site in 1877. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, the island and lighthouse were occupied by
German forces.
Allied aircraft bombed the lighthouse on two occasions, 25 July and 1 August 1940, and caused considerable damage. From 1949 to 1950, a new square light tower, a new keeper's house, and a new surrounding, protective, bulkhead were built.
The lighthouse was automated in 1987 and in 2002 the lighthouse keeper position was eliminated and the lighthouse is now controlled electronically from the mainland. In January 2005, a severe storm breached the bulkhead wall and destroyed the keeper's house. After the keeper's house was repaired its ownership was transferred to the local
Austevoll
Austevoll is a municipality and an archipelago in Vestland county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Midthordland in Western Norway. The administrative centre is the village of Storebø on the island of Huftarøy. Other villa ...
municipality. A hotel now operates the facility as a dependency.
The newspaper ''
Marsteinen'' was named after the lighthouse in 1978.
[Våge, Nils Steinar. 2014. Marsteinen. ''Allkunne.no'' (February 28).](_blank)
/ref>
See also
*Lighthouses in Norway
The coast of Norway is 100,915 km long and there have been a total of 212 lighthouses along it, but no more than 154 have ever been operational at the same time. The first, Lindesnes Lighthouse, opened in 1655; the newest Lighthouse, Anda ...
*List of lighthouses in Norway
The following is a sortable, but partial list of active and some decommissioned Lighthouses in Norway, lighthouses along the Norwegian coastline.
The sequence number follows the convention of listing lighthouses from the coastal border in the sou ...
References
External links
Norsk Fyrhistorisk Forening
{{Authority control
Austevoll
Lighthouses completed in 1877
Lighthouses in Vestland
1877 establishments in Norway