Stella Maris Light (), Mount Carmel Light, Har Carmel Light or Haifa Light, is a

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 ...

Haifa, Israel Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area in Israel. It is home to t ...

. It is located on the seaward face of

Mount Carmel Mount Carmel (; ), also known in Arabic as Mount Mar Elias (; ), is a coastal mountain range in northern Israel stretching from the Mediterranean Sea towards the southeast. The range is a UNESCO biosphere reserve. A number of towns are situat ...

, near

Stella Maris Monastery The Stella Maris Monastery is a Catholic Christian monastery for Discalced Carmelite monks, located on the slopes of Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel. The main church inside the Stella Maris Monastery is said to contain the Cave of Elijah, a grotto ...

, inside an

Israeli Navy The Israeli Navy (, ''Ḥeil HaYam HaYisraeli'', ; ) is the Israel Defense Forces#Arms, naval warfare service arm of the Israel Defense Forces, operating primarily in the Mediterranean Sea theater as well as the Gulf of Eilat and the Red Sea th ...

base. The lighthouse is closed to the public and there is no access to the building. It can be viewed from nearby.

History

Over the years there have been lighthouses in several locations on Mount Carmel. An ancient lighthouse was present on the mountain in

Roman times In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman civilisation from the founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingd ...

. One early mention is a lighthouse located at the original site of the Stella Maris Monastery, as early as 1631. The current location of the lighthouse is at the summer palace of Abdullah Pasha, the ruler of

Acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

from 1820 to 1831. The house and lighthouse were built using masonry from the

Carmelite The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (; abbreviated OCarm), known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a mendicant order in the Catholic Church for both men and women. Histo ...

monastery that stood there, and was destroyed by order of Abdullah Pasha. pp. 568-570 In 1831

Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt Ibrahim Pasha ( ''Ibrāhīm Bāshā''; 1789 – 10 November 1848) was an Egyptian general and politician; he was the commander of both the Egyptian and Ottoman armies and the eldest son of Muhammad Ali, the Ottoman Wāli and unrecognized Khedi ...

captured Acre, exiled Abdullah Pasha to Egypt, and returned the building to the Carmelites. The structure was badly damaged in 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 ...

. However, the building was restored in the end of the war and the Carmelites added a second floor in 1926. In 1928, with a donation by the Spanish

Honorary Consul A consul is an official representative of a government who resides in a foreign country to assist and protect citizens of the consul's country, and to promote and facilitate commercial and diplomatic relations between the two countries. A consu ...

, the current lighthouse was built. The original lens, as well as plans for the original structure and

catadioptric A catadioptric optical system is one where refraction and reflection are combined in an optical system, usually via lenses ( dioptrics) and curved mirrors ( catoptrics). Catadioptric combinations are used in focusing systems such as searchlig ...

apparatus are on display at the facade of

Israeli National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (, ''HaMuze'on HaYami HaLe'umi'') is a maritime and archaeological museum in Haifa, Israel. The museum was founded in 1953, based on the private collection of its founder and first director, Aryeh Ben-Eli. In 1972, t ...

. In the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

rented the house from the Carmelites to serve in the preparation to the Nazi invasion to the area. The British remained there until their evacuation at the end of the British Mandate in 1948. The building has been used by the Israeli Navy ever since.

References

* Listed as "Har Karmel (Mount Carmel)". *

External links

* {{Authority control Lighthouses completed in 1821 Lighthouses completed in 1928 Lighthouses in Israel Buildings and structures in Haifa Mount Carmel

History

See also

References

External links