Lighthouse On The Hill Of Urbas (Nida)

Coordinates: 55.305091 20.995592

Object address: Urbas hill, Nida, Lithuania

Municipality: Neringa

Construction of the first lighthouse in Nida began during the 2nd half of 19th century after the war of German unification. The hexagonal red-brick tower of 27 m in height was built with greenery planted alongside it on Urbas Hill, which is 51.4 m tall, and a special plank path was built all the way to its summit. The lighthouse began operating on October 20, 1874. It could then be reached by a cobblestone path containing 200 treads, which have survived to the present day. This cobblestone path was built by French soldiers who had been taken captive by the Germans during 1870-1871. A Fresnel lantern was fitted in the old Nida lighthouse. Every 10 seconds, it produced a 4-second flash visible at sea for a distance of 22 nautical miles. The first lighthouse in Nida functioned till 1944, when it was blown up by the withdrawing German soldiers. By 1945, a temporary lighthouse had already been built – a wooden tower with a beacon, which served until a new lighthouse was built in 1953.
The present-day Nida lighthouse is a ferroconcrete tower of cylindrical shape with horizontal red and white stripes containing a balcony and premise for the beacon. Its height is 29.3 m. The lighthouse transmits white-light signals which can be seen at sea 41 km (22 Nautical miles) away. The lighthouse is located approx. 900 m from the sea and is elevated 79 m above sea level. Till November 2016, the old lighting system functioned in the lighthouse. It was then fitted with a crystal lens having 6 lamps, and only one was lit at a time. When this lamp burned out, another lamp used to switch on. It’s notable that the crystal lens made in Ukraine had, before arriving to Nida, earned an award at an international exhibition in Paris. The lighthouse used to send out rotating light flashes: two short and one long. At the end of 2016, the lighthouse’s old optics were replaced with three large LED beacons: two beacons emit flashing-light signals towards the sea, and one smaller beacon – towards the Curonian Lagoon. The lighthouse’s new beacons now emit white light, and therefore, it is easily distinguishable from the yellowish light emitted by other objects. The Nida lighthouse has a flashing frequency that is unique to it only: two short 0.2 sec light signals with a gap of 1.2 sec, with a 4.2 sec gap (darkness) following thereafter, the total interval of light and darkness being 5.8 sec. Light signals are sent out by the lighthouse only during the dark period of a day: when it starts getting dark, the lamp automatically turns on, and when the day dawns – it automatically turns off. The lighthouse has an autonomous electric power station, so light is emitted even when the electricity supply fails. The Nida Lighthouse serves as a navigation mark which, by sending light flashes, helps ships orient themselves at sea. It is recorded in global navigational aid books, marked in sea charts and described in pilot books.
During the sanctification of the Nida lighthouse in 1991, it was conferred the name of Saint Peter, the patron of fishermen.

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