Store Torungen Lighthouse ( no, Store Torungen fyrstasjon) is a

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

on the island of Store Torungen in the municipality of

Arendal Arendal () is a municipality in Agder county in southeastern Norway. Arendal belongs to the region of Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Arendal (which is also the seat of Agder county). Some of the not ...

Agder Agder is a county (''fylke'') and traditional region in the southern part of Norway. The county was established on 1 January 2020, when the old Vest-Agder and Aust-Agder counties were merged. Since the early 1900s, the term Sørlandet ("sou ...

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 ...

. This lighthouse, together with the nearby

Lille Torungen Lighthouse Lille Torungen Lighthouse ( no, Lille Torungen fyrstasjon) is a coastal lighthouse on the island of Lille Torungen in the municipality of Arendal in Agder county, Norway. This lighthouse, together with the nearby Store Torungen Lighthouse, mark t ...

, mark the entrance from the

Skaggerak The Skagerrak (, , ) is a strait running between the Jutland peninsula of Denmark, the southeast coast of Norway and the west coast of Sweden, connecting the North Sea and the Kattegat sea area through the Danish Straits to the Baltic Sea. Th ...

through the outlying islands to the mainland town of Arendal. Both lighthouses were built in 1844 with the same specifications, making "twin" lighthouses marking the way to Arendal. The two lighthouses were put on the

coat-of-arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in i ...

for the local municipality of

Hisøy Hisøy (historically: ''Hisø'') is a former municipality in the old Aust-Agder county in Norway. The municipality existed from 1881 until 1992 when it was merged into the municipality of Arendal in what is now Agder county. At the time of its ...

in which the lighthouses were located. Over time, both lighthouses were replaced, and the only one still standing is the Lille Torungen Lighthouse, although it is no longer in use. The site of the Store Torungen Lighthouse is accessible only by boat. The island and site is open to the public, the tower is open daily during the summers, and the lighthouse keepers house is available to rent for overnight accommodations.

Current lighthouse

The present lighthouse was constructed in 1914 to replace an earlier tower from 1844. The tall tower is white with a red stripe midway up the tower. The round tower is made of

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impu ...

and on top there is a light with a 2nd order

Fresnel lens A Fresnel lens ( ; ; or ) is a type of composite compact lens developed by the French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel (1788–1827) for use in lighthouses. It has been called "the invention that saved a million ships." The design allows the ...

. The light sits at an elevation of and it emits one white flash every 20 seconds. The light can be seen for up to . The lighthouse also broadcasts a

racon Radar beacon (short: racon) is – according to ''article 1.103'' of the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) ITU Radio Regulations (RR) – defined as "A transmitter-receiver associated with a fixed navigational mark which, when trig ...

signal (the

morse code Morse code is a method used in telecommunication to encode text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code is named after Samuel Morse, one ...

letter "T").

History

The original lighthouse was built in 1844. The tall, round, brick tower was white, with a small red stripe around it and a red top. The lighthouse tower was replaced in 1914 with a new tower located a short distance away from the old tower. The old tower was torn down after the new tower was completed. This upset the local residents, so they pushed to prevent its twin

from being torn down too.

Media gallery

Torungen lighthouse outside of Arendal in Norway (2006).jpg, View of the present lighthouse on Store Torungen Store og Lille Torungen fyr.JPG, View of the two lighthouses on neighboring islands Lille Torungen, Hisøy - S-1602U1 053.jpg, Old picture of the

which is identical to the old Store Torungen Lighthouse which originally stood form 1844–1914.

References

{{authority control Lighthouses in Agder Buildings and structures in Arendal

Current lighthouse

History

Media gallery

See also

References