Darłówko: from lights of 1715 to a brick tower of 1885

According to Wikipedia, in March 1715 it was ordered that navigation lights be set up on both sides of the mouth of the Wieprza, but only after more than a hundred years was a pilot station with a six-metre tower built there. Only in 1885 did a small single-storey building of red facing brick with a square tower stand on the eastern bank. A lighthouse keeper lived in it, who made sure the lamp shone with a steady red light with a range of 6 nautical miles. The source of light was a fourth-order lens, placed in a window at a height of 12 metres. In 1899 it was replaced with a sixth-order lens, and five years later the list of lights recorded a change of characteristic to white, occulting.

In 1927 the tower was raised by one storey, on which a small gallery and a lantern with a white dome were built. According to Wikipedia this is exactly how the lighthouse in Darłówko looks to this day, and only the sources of light have changed. There is a minor problem with the height: Wikipedia gives in the technical data 22 m for the tower, in the infobox 21 m, and in the description of the history 23 m for the whole structure. The website latarnie.pl speaks of 22 metres.

A building flooded by the sea

The location right at the entrance to the harbour channel is very difficult for a building. In autumn and winter, during storms, water floods the whole building, and in winter the wall on the sea side is sometimes encrusted with ice. For this reason the north wall was faced with an additional layer of bricks and plastered with cement-lime plaster, so that it is 54 cm thick. Salinity and damp in the walls meant that for a long time the lighthouse was inaccessible to tourists. After a major renovation in 2006, as Wikipedia states, it can again be visited.

In 2023 the navigation light was moved to the roof of the Marina Royale apartment building, on the other side of the harbour channel, about 130 m west of the tower. On the old tower a sector light in three colours, white, green and red, was installed, which guides ships into the port of Darłowo. Thanks to this the former lighthouse still works, only in a different role.

Kołobrzeg: a light on the port authority building and on the breakwater

In Kołobrzeg the first light for navigation purposes was lit in 1666. According to Wikipedia, the turret of the port authority building was used for this, and the light was burnt only occasionally, when ships called at the port. Later it was lit on the breakwater. In the second half of the 19th century ships were shown the way by an oil lamp with a Fresnel lens, placed at a height of about 8 m above sea level, with a range of about 6 nautical miles.

In 1899 a new pilot station building with a 25-metre tower, which served as a lighthouse, was erected using half-timbered construction. Its range was 8 nautical miles, and the source of light was at a height of 14 m above sea level. In 1909 the light half-timbered building was replaced with a more solid brick structure: the range rose to 12 nautical miles, and the light, gas-fuelled, was raised to 25 m above sea level.

The year 1945 and the lighthouse on the platform of the fort

According to Wikipedia, in 1945 German sappers blew up the lighthouse, because it was a good landmark for Polish gunners during the fighting for the town in March 1945. The new lighthouse was completed by November 1945 at the latest, in a slightly different place: the previous one stood in front of the fort, and the present one stands on its main platform and makes use of the foundations of the mighty fortress buildings. The year of construction is given differently, as 1945 or 1946.

The place has its weight in the history of the town. The Encyclopaedia of West Pomerania writes that the ceremony of Poland's Wedding to the Sea of 18 March 1945 took place on the terrace of Ujście Fort, next to the ruins of the German lighthouse, and not where the inscription on the Monument to Poland's Wedding to the Sea indicates. The lighthouse itself was afterwards given a plaque in honour of those killed in the fighting for Kołobrzeg. According to Wikipedia, in 2022 a bas-relief with a PPSh submachine gun and a banner with a hammer and sickle was removed from it, and the lighthouse is to be turned into a monument to Polish soldiers killed in March 1945.

Today the tower is 26 m high, the light is at 36 m above sea level, and the nominal range is 16 nautical miles. The light is flashing: the flash lasts one second, the interval two. In 1979-1981 a major renovation was carried out, in which, among other things, the lantern and the stairs were replaced with metal ones. After 2001 the town, the owner of the site, renovated the fort. The lighthouse lies near the port and the pier. According to Wikipedia both lighthouses are administered by the Maritime Office in Szczecin and are open to visitors, but the hours and rules of entry to the towers must be checked with the manager.