The Westerlichttoren or West Schouwen 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 ...

Haamstede Haamstede is a village in the Netherlands, Dutch province of Zeeland. It is a part of the municipality of Schouwen-Duiveland. The village is known for Haamstede Castle. History The village was first mentioned in 1229 as Haemstede, and means "pla ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Designed by L. Valk, it was built in 1837. At 47 m (154 ft) above ground and a light stand at 58 m (190 ft) above sea level it is one of the tallest lighthouses in the Netherlands. The lighthouse is built in brick and iron, the walls are 2.4 m thick at the bottom, tapering upward. It is painted in a red-and-white spiral. A stair of 226 steps, in stone and partially in iron, leads to the top. The lighthouse is unattended.

Light

The lighthouse is switched on and off automatically by a light sensor. A sailor can recognise the light by its characteristic: group flash 2+1. The current lenses were installed in 1953. Originally the light was an

incandescent light bulb An incandescent light bulb, also known as an incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe, is an electric light that produces illumination by Joule heating a #Filament, filament until it incandescence, glows. The filament is enclosed in a ...

of 4200 W, which has been replaced by a 2000 W

gas-discharge lamp Gas-discharge lamps are a family of artificial light sources that generate light by sending an electric discharge through an ionization, ionized gas, a plasma (physics), plasma. Typically, such lamps use a noble gas (argon, neon, krypton, and x ...

Notability

This lighthouse was well known by the public as it was used for the former 250

Dutch guilder The guilder (, ) or florin was the currency of the Netherlands from 1434 until 2002, when it was replaced by the euro. The Dutch name was a Middle Dutch adjective meaning 'golden', and reflects the fact that, when first introduced in 1434, its ...

note designed by

Ootje Oxenaar Robert Deodaat Emile "Ootje" Oxenaar (7 October 1929 – 13 June 2017) was a Dutch graphic artist, visual artist, commissioner, and professor. Biography Oxenaar was a student at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague and graduated in 1953 with hono ...

References

Lighthouses in the Netherlands Lighthouses completed in 1837 Towers in Zeeland Rijksmonuments in Zeeland Buildings and structures in Schouwen-Duiveland History of Schouwen-Duiveland {{Netherlands-lighthouse-stub

Light

Notability

See also

References