Landsorts Lighthouse

The village of Landsort is located in the southernmost region of Stockholm’s archipelago. In the village and a beacon on the Baltic Sea is the Landsort lighthouse.

The first lighthouse was constructed in 1658 but was destroyed by a fire. A royal decree to build a new, more resilient lighthouse made of stone was issued in 1666. The lighthouse was finally completed sometime during the 1680s. The new structure was designed to survive fires and turned out to be a smart decision.

Russians tried to set fire to the structure in 1719 during the Russian pillage, but thanks to the meter-thick stone walls it survived and still stands on the southern tip of the island today. It’s the oldest Swedish built lighthouse and the second oldest lighthouse in Sweden.

Originally, the tower had an iron cage hanging outside that housed burning coal to light the way. The current optics were installed in 1938, which included a modern lamp run on electricity. A few decades later in the 1960s, the last lighthouse keeper locked the door and left as the lighthouse was finally automated.