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Baltic Lights (ID: 4392)
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Lighthouses are some of the oldest aids to navigation and have marked the main highways along our coasts for centuries. Throughout their history they have benefited from the development of new technology and increasingly automated equipment. Ironically these same advantages have gradually eroded the need for manned lighthouses. Today the majority of lights world-wide are automatically operated and no longer require personnel. Many others have been decommissioned from service. Continual exposure to the harsh maritime environment and no regular maintenance meansthese buildings rapidly deteriorate. It is this threat which many Baltic Lights now face. What future is there for our Baltic Lights? Lighthouses are: A guarantee of safe passage Advanced technological systems and equipment Landmarks in the coastal landscape Historic Monuments Distinctive Buildings Sources of Cultural History Tourism and Recreation Centres for Study and Research Holiday homes By developing their potential as historic and cultural monuments it is possible for more of them to be guaranteed a safe passage for the benefit of future generations. Through the centuries Baltic lights have provided a reassuring means of assistance and guidance to countless mariners the world over. They warn ships of potential hazards and are designed to withstand their local geographical and environmental conditions. The notorious seas around Bengtskar resemble a ship s graveyard. A lighthouse was not erected here until 1906 following the tragic loss of the steam ship Helsingfors on her maiden voyage. At night the colour or distinctive flash pattern of a light is used to identify a lighthouse, allowing sailors to confirm their position. During daylight hours lighthouses serve as landmarks and aids to coastal navigation and are identified by their shape, size and colour. Uto, Finland stands at the entrance to the sea-lane leading to Turku in the northern Baltic. It is easily recognisable with its red and white vertical stripes painted on the three walls facing the sea. Lightships were often used in places where earlier it was impossible to build a permanent structure. The Kemi was used at several locations in Finnish waters. It was taken out of service in the 1970s and is now moored at Finland s Maritime Museum as a monument to the era of lightships. The earliest Baltic lights were simple fires placed along the coastlines to warn and guide sailors. Lever beacons were developed to hoist up metal baskets filled with lit coal to improve light intensity and this type of beacon was used at Falsterbo, Sweden from 1229. Some of the earliest recorded beacons are illustrated by Olaus Magnus on his map of the Nordic Countries 1539. One of these, Kopu in Estonia, is one of the oldest lights found in the Baltic area. It was built by the Hanseatic League of Merchants between 1527 and 1531 and is still in use today. Larger and more permanent structures continued to be built in the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1753 the first Finnish lighthouse was built on the island of Uto. Denmark received its first proper lighthouse at Skagen in 1757. DENMARK Gedser Odde + Nakkehoved + Skagen ESTONIA Keri Kopu + Vilsandi Laidunina Sorve Tahkuna FINLAND Bengtskar Marjaniemi Strommingsbadan Tankar Uto GERMANY Buk + Flugge + Greifswalder Oie + Kap Arkona LATVIA Slitere LITHUANIA Uostadvaris Vente NORWAY Lindesnes Tungenes Grip POLAND Czolpino Hel Kolobrzeg Port Pln., Gdansk + Rozewie + Swinoujscie Kikut RUSSIA Gorki + Kronstadt Ostrov Gogland + SWEDEN Gotska Sandon + Hoburg + Landsort Lange Jan + Maseskar Nidingen Pater Noster Vinga + Institutions: Estonian Maritime Museum Finnish Maritime Administration Finnish Maritime Museum Lithuanian Department of Heritage Protection Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage Norwegian Archive, Library and Museum Authority Polish Maritime Museum in Gdansk Royal Danish Administration of Navigation & Hydrography Stavanger Maritime Museum, Norway National Heritage Board, Sweden Photographs: Juha Gronlund, Ulla Hassinen, Markku Heinonen, Jouni Klinga, Juha Sarkkinen, Finland, Egbert Koch, Germany, Andris Biedrins, Latvia, Kestutis Demereckas, Lithuania, Thor Ivar Hansen, Kate Newland, Danckert Monrad-Krohn, Bjorn Arild Ersland, Norway Publishing House ZET, Ewa Meksiak, Poland Jan Norman, Dan Thunman, Sweden Design Pawel Makowski, Polish Maritime Museum in Gdansk Content Editor Kate Newland, Stavanger Maritime Museum, Norway Architectural Drawing of Maseskar, Sweden. National Heritage Board, Sweden. The Baltic Sea Heritage Co-operation was set up following the Lubeck Declaration in 1997. Its mandate was to develop an action plan to safeguard and develop the common heritage of the Baltic Sea States through four working groups. One of these, the Working Group for Coastal Culture and Maritime Heritage, is responsible for Baltic Lights an exhibition of twelve posters to raise awareness and promote the preservation of lighthouses under threat in the Baltic area. Lighthouses are some of the oldest aids to navigation and have marked the main highways along our coasts for centuries. Baltic Lights