Pater Noster Lighthouse

Pater Noster
Location Hamneskär, Skagerrak, west of Marstrand, Sweden
Coordinates 57°53′46″N 11°27′57″E / 57.89611°N 11.46583°ECoordinates: 57°53′46″N 11°27′57″E / 57.89611°N 11.46583°E
Year first constructed 1868
Year first lit 1868
Automated 1964
Deactivated 1977, reactivated 2007
Foundation Iron
Construction Iron
Tower shape Conical skeletal iron tower
Markings / pattern Red paint on tower, gren metallic lantern
Height 32 m (105 ft)
Focal height 36 m (118 ft)
Original lens 1° Fresnel lens
Current lens Small lens
Range 20 nmi (37 km; 23 mi)
Characteristic Fl. (1) 15 s
Admiralty number C0489.4
NGA number 0700

Pater Noster, is a Swedish lighthouse, and the name of a small archipelago in Bohuslän on the Swedish west coast. There were plans to build a lighthouse on the island in the 1750s but a light was instead placed on the fortification of Carlsten in Marstrand. That light was replaced by Pater Noster in 1868. The lighthouse is of engineer Nils Gustaf von Heidenstam's typical iron design.

Pater Noster originally had a large first order Fresnel lens in its lantern and the flame originally ran on colza oil. A paraffin lamp was installed in 1887. The lighouse was automated in 1964 and the large lens replaced by a small 4th order lens. In 1977 Pater Noster lighthouse was deactivated in favor of the modern lighthouse Hätteberget placed in open water. Pater Noster started to fall out of repair as the salt water made the iron construction rusty and weak.

In 2002 a large restoration project began. The lighthouse was transported to the town of Uddevalla, and later to Gothenburg. The tower was very rusty and overall in bad condition and restoration took much longer than originally planned, mostly because of insufficient funding. But many local companies and persons volunteered to complete the work. In the summer of 2007 the lighthouse was shipped back to Hamneskär. In the autumn it was reactivated.

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