Pilsum Lighthouse () was built in 1891 as a

sector light A sector light is a man-made pilotage and position fixing aid that consists of strictly delineated horizontal angle light beams to guide water-borne traffic through a safe channel at night in reasonable visibility. Sector lights are most often ...

for the

Ems Ems or EMS may refer to: Places and rivers * Domat/Ems, a Swiss municipality in the canton of Grisons * Ems (river) (Eems), a river in northwestern Germany and northeastern Netherlands that discharges in the Dollart Bay * Ems (Eder), a river o ...

hörn channel on Germany's North Sea coast. It is located on a dyke near the village of Pilsum in the municipality of

Krummhörn Krummhörn is a municipality in the Aurich (district), district of Aurich, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated near the Ems (river), Ems estuary, approximately 15 km southwest of Norden, Lower Saxony, Norden, and 10 km northwest of ...

. It guided ships through the narrow channel until 1915. During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, its light was extinguished so that enemy ships could not navigate the route. After that, it was no longer needed, because the channel was changed. The height of the structure is 11 metres; the height of the light about sea level is 15 metres. Today, the tower is one of the best-known symbols of

East Frisia East Frisia () or East Friesland (; ; ; ) is a historic region in the northwest of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is primarily located on the western half of the East Frisia (peninsula), East Frisian peninsula, to the east of West Frisia and to the ...

Film

The tower grew in popularity as a result of the film ' by comedian

Otto Waalkes Otto Gerhard Waalkes (born 22 July 1948), also known as simply Otto, is a German comedian, actor, musician, writer, and comic book artist. He became famous in the 1970s and 1980s in Germany with his shows, books and films. His best known tradema ...

. In the film Otto lives in the lighthouse. Although the lighthouse is one of the central scenes in ''Otto: The Alien from East Frisia'', for some reason the picture used on cinema advertisements and later on the inlays of the video and DVD editions was of the Westerheversand Lighthouse in

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

, not the Pilsum Lighthouse.

References

External links

Pilsum Lighthouse

Information and photos of Pilsum Lighthouse
at ''www.leuchtturm-welt.de'' Lighthouses completed in 1891 Lighthouses in Lower Saxony East Frisia 1891 establishments in Germany Buildings and structures in Aurich (district) {{Europe-lighthouse-stub

Film

See also

References

External links