Some 90 lighthouses to be revamped

ISTANBUL- Demirören News Agency

Turkey’s directorate general of coastal safety will hold a tender for the upgrading and renovation work of a total of 89 lighthouses located on the country’s coastlines.

As part of the project, the lighthouses, made of reinforced concrete, scattered from the Hopa district on the Black Sea coast to İskenderun district on the Mediterranean, and to the sites on the Aegean and the Marmara seas, will be inspected to determine what conditions they are in.

Some of those lighthouses are located on the seashores, while others are built on wave breakers.

All lighthouses in Turkey were put under the responsibility of the directorate of coastal safety back in 1997.

The directorate has called on interested parties to prepare a dossier which will include their assessment of the current state of the lighthouses and proposals for renovation work.

The tender will be held on May 6 this year.

The oldest lighthouse on record was built in the Kumkale region of the western province of Çanakkale in B.C 7.
During the Ottoman era, the first lighthouse was commissioned by Süleyman the Magnificent in 1562 in Istanbul.

The Ottomans had built more than 200 lighthouses to guide sailors and ships from the Red Sea to Romania during their rein. The Ahırkapı Lighthouse, which is still in service, was built by Sultan Osman III in 1755.

The tallest of all those structures, which decorate the country’s coastlines, is the 30-metre-high Rumeli Lighthouse in Istanbul on the city’s European side, followed by the Ahırpkapı Lighthouse with 29 meters.

The Mehmetçik Burnu lighthouse in Çanakkale measures 25 meters high, making it the third tallest lantern in the country.