Darłowo Lighthouse

The lighthouse in Darłówko, a district of Darłowo, stands right at the mouth of the Wieprza and is a structure quite unlike a classic sea tower. It is a low brick building with a tower, which was raised by one storey in 1927. The lighthouse can be visited.

How it came about

The placing of lights on both sides of the mouth of the Wieprza was decided in 1715, but only after more than a hundred years was a pilot station with a six-metre tower built. In 1885 a small single-storey building of red facing brick with a square tower was built on the eastern bank, where the lighthouse keeper lived. The lamp showed a steady red light with a range of 6 nautical miles, the source being a fourth-order lens in a window at a height of 12 m.

In 1927 the tower was raised by one storey with a small gallery and a lantern with a white dome. This is how the lighthouse looks to this day. Only the light sources have changed, and today a 500 W bulb in a semi-cylindrical lens shines here. According to Wikipedia the total height of the lighthouse is 23 m.

The struggle with the sea

The place is very difficult for buildings: in autumn and winter, during storms, water floods the whole building, and in winter the wall facing the sea is encrusted with ice. The north wall had to be strengthened with an additional layer of bricks and plastered with cement-lime plaster, and as a result it is 54 cm thick today.

Because of damp and salt in the walls, the lighthouse was for a long time not open to tourists. After a major renovation in 2006 it can be visited again, and through the panes of the lantern the structure of the lens can be seen.

The change in 2023

In 2023 the previous navigation light was installed on the roof of the Marina Royale apartment building, on the other side of the harbour canal, about 130 m west of the tower. On the old tower a sector light in three colours, white, green and red, was fitted, which guides ships into the port. The changes improved the legibility of the marking of the entrance fairway to the port of Darłowo.

Nearby

By the lighthouse, as the website latarnie.pl says, you can see a unique bascule bridge. The centre of Darłowo is about 3 km away, and there stands the Castle of the Pomeranian Dukes in Darłowo.

In Darłowo itself it is also worth looking in at St Mary's Church.

Practical information

• Address: ul. Wschodnia 14, Darłowo (Darłówko district).
• Administrator: the Maritime Office in Szczecin. Check the entry hours and visiting rules with the manager before your visit.
• The lighthouse lies between the lighthouses in Gąski (about 40 km to the west) and in Jarosławiec (about 15 km to the east).
• The height of the tower is given differently: according to the website latarnie.pl about 22 m, according to Wikipedia 23 m (21 m in the entry's data table). The sector light on the tower is at a height of 20 m above sea level.