Hamburg lighthouse

Hamburg lighthouse
	View from the sea side (northeast)
Place:	Cuxhaven
Location:	Elbe estuary, at Alte Liebe, behind the dike, west of the entrance to the Old Harbor
Geographical location:	53 ° 52 '19.2 " N , 8 ° 42' 30.1" E Coordinates: 53 ° 52 '19.2 " N , 8 ° 42' 30.1" E
Identifier :	F. wr / Blz. (4) 12 s / break 6 s / blz. (5) 12 s
Scope knows:	8 nm (14.8 km )
Scope red:	6 nm (11.1 km )
Operating mode:	electric
Function:	Guide and cross mark fire
Construction time:	1802-1804
Operating time:	1805-2001
International ordinal number:	B 1360 (2000)

p4

The Hamburg lighthouse is a lighthouse in Cuxhaven that was built between 1802 and 1804 by the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg , to which the area belonged at the time. The lighthouse at Alte Liebe is one of the city's landmarks and was in operation until 2001. It is under the protection of historical monuments in Lower Saxony and is included in the list of architectural monuments in Cuxhaven .

history

The sandstone portal at the entrance is adorned with the coat of arms of Hamburg , underneath an inscription explains: "Nautis signum / sibi monumentum erexit / respublica hamburgensis / Ao MDCCCIII" - "As a sign for the seafarers, erected as a monument by the Hamburg state in 1803". Its geographical position: 53 degrees 52 minutes 22 seconds north latitude and 8 degrees 42 minutes 34 seconds east longitude, served as the zero point of the former Hamburg map system (survey maps) in the Ritzebüttel office .

Lighthouses and beacons have always been considered very effective in clearly marking the coast and the Elbe estuary , as you could see their light from a great distance. As early as 1644 there was a coal bloom on the island of Neuwerk to show the ships coming from the sea both the island and the nearby Elbe estuary.

At first there were only large beacons at the mouth of the Elbe in Cuxhaven (high wooden frames, such as the Kugelbake in Cuxhaven-Döse, which still exists today ), which occasionally overturned in the storm, a massive brick lighthouse - the Hamburg lighthouse - came close at the beginning of the 19th century of the " old love ". The tower cost 102,000 marks at the time and was put into operation on November 15, 1805.

In this four-story, 23-meter-high lighthouse (fire height 24 meters), consisting of almost one meter thick walls, stairs with a total of 104 steps lead to the tower fire in the 18-sided lantern. The lantern under a copper-clad hood has a diameter of five meters and consists of three rows of windows made of flat mirror glass, one on top of the other .

The original tower fire consisted of seven so-called Argand reflector lamps, special oil lamps with a round wick (round burner, also Argand burner after the inventor Aimé Argand ). The lamps were initially operated with rapeseed oil . Their light was bundled by silver-plated reflectors made of copper (in this combination lamp / reflector also known as Réverbèren concave mirrors or parabolic mirrors ), which had previously been obtained from England and which were supplemented by two more a few years later. Corresponding improvements, as well as the system in the Neuwerk lighthouse , were brought about by Johann Georg Repsold .

Even if it was initially interrupted by a pause during the continental blockade, the beacon shone so far that it could still be seen quite well at sea from around six kilometers away. Technical inventions and developments kept making improvements. In 1892 the Argand lamps and their reflectors were exchanged for so-called Fresnel optics of the 2nd order and a central lamp.

In 1899 the tower was used by Ferdinand Braun for his pioneering experiments with wireless telegraphy .

From 1905 to 1912 a strong incandescent light burned for the first time in the "Hamburg lighthouse" (a glow mantle operated with luminous gas ), followed by a petroleum incandescent light . In 1927 it was replaced by an electric arc lamp and in 1937 by an electric incandescent light. After the lighthouse in Cuxhaven in 1924 to the list of protected monuments was registered in Hamburg, the facing bricks of the tower in 1934 were renewed. In the 1980s and after the change of ownership in 2005, the tower was renovated again.

Its function as a lighthouse and navigation mark ended on 7 May 2001 when the fire was extinguished, as it was unnecessary as a cross mark for continuous shipping. Since the city of Cuxhaven could not raise the necessary funds to take over the tower, the tower went to the Federal Property Office, which sold it to private owners in 2002. In 2004/05 the tower was offered non-binding to private at the internet auction house eBay , was then to be auctioned again and was finally sold privately to private parties prior to this auction.