Close-up of Bengtskär's enormous lens. Black and white photo.
Close-up of Bengtskär's enormous lens. Black and white photo.

Bengtskär Lens

starting at €90.00

An impressive clockwork mechanism kept the beam of the newly built Bengtskär Lighthouse rotating. The light was visible from nearly 40 km away. The valuable equipment survived World War I, but despite the tenacious defense during the Battle of Bengtskär in World War II, the original fog signal and power stations, along with the lantern and its lighting equipment, were destroyed when a bomb dropped from an airplane exploded on the second floor after passing through three roofs. After the war, the light and fog signal equipment was replaced with electric systems until they, too, were removed as part of the lighthouse’s automation. The impressive lens is back in place, though no longer in use. The current small light has a range of just under 20 km.

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An impressive clockwork mechanism kept the beam of the newly built Bengtskär Lighthouse rotating. The light was visible from nearly 40 km away. The valuable equipment survived World War I, but despite the tenacious defense during the Battle of Bengtskär in World War II, the original fog signal and power stations, along with the lantern and its lighting equipment, were destroyed when a bomb dropped from an airplane exploded on the second floor after passing through three roofs. After the war, the light and fog signal equipment was replaced with electric systems until they, too, were removed as part of the lighthouse’s automation. The impressive lens is back in place, though no longer in use. The current small light has a range of just under 20 km.

The lighthouse stands at the edge of the world. Smoothly worn steps lead up to the lantern room. From there, you can see the shadows of the clouds reflected in the sea—and the small world of the lighthouse island. Starting in the 1950s, lighthouses began to be left without keepers or even became completely obsolete. It was not until around the turn of the millennium that the cultural and architectural value of these navigational aids, abandoned to the mercy of the weather and vandalism, began to be understood, and efforts were made to save them. Everyone who has helped save even one of our lighthouses has given a gift to all Finns.

Discover my work The Sea That Rinses My Feet  (texts in Finnish, English, and Swedish)

Discover my book Kuohu – Hooked on the Archipelago (texts in Finnish or Swedish)