Tired of politics and want a quiet moment of contemplation? I have just what you need: Lighthouses of Iceland.
First, a few terms from pharology, which is the science of lighthouses. The lighthouse is typically called a "tower", the grounds on which a tower is built are called a "light station", which can include other buildings, such as keeper's quarters. and the light itself is typically housed in the top level of the tower, which is called the "lantern room." The height of the center of the lighting apparatus above mean sea level is called the "focal plane". The walkway around the lantern house is called the "gallery."
The Icelandic word for lighthouse is viti. You can find nice websites with lots of pictures on these lighthouses at here and here, and in the finest Icelandic tradition these lighthouses have some wonderful names, like Hraunhafnartangaviti, Öndverðarnes, and Svalbarðseyri.
Image 1 shows a lighthouse, Gróttuviti at Grótta, a small island (except at low tide) near Rekjavik. While many lighthouses in Iceland are located on top of cliffs, and therefore generally aren't very high. Gróttuviti , a concrete structure, was built in 1897 and stands 24m (79 feet) high. Image 1 also shows two modern keeper's quarters. See here for a spectacularly romantic image of Gróttuviti.
Before we go on, let's get in the mood with a bit of lighthouse poetry (not written by me):
The rocky ledge runs far into the sea,
and on its outer point, some miles away,
the lighthouse lifts its massive masonry,
A pillar of fire by night, of cloud by day.
Image 2 shows Óshólaviti, a lighthouse near the fishing port of Bolungarvik, in the NW part of Iceland, on a peninsula called
Vestfirðir (Westfjords). This huge peninsula has an area of 8,599 sq miles, roughly the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined, but with a population of only 7,380 in 2007.
According to the premier lighthouse inventory on the web, Russ Rowlett's Lighthouse Directory, Óshólaviti was built in 1937, and has a focal plane of 25 meters (85 feet). The tower itself is only 20 feet tall. Iceland paints many of its lighthouses in high visibility colors, as white and black, the most common colors used in American lighthouses, would not stand out well in the landscape. For a good summer view of the lighthouse, showing its position to Bolungarvik, see here. And see here for a beautifully detailed close up of Óshólaviti. Kossacks should like this lighthouse -- it is very orange.
Image 3: Lighthouse at Dyrhólaey on Iceland's south
coast. Flickr / Johan Wieland
Image 3 shows the lighthouse at Dyrhólaey on Iceland's south coast. This light station was originally established in 1910, and the present lighthouse was built in 1927. The lighthouse is large for Iceland, consisting as you can see of a large three-story square tower supporting the lantern room, with the keeper's quarters integral to the tower, which is 13 m (43 feet) high. The light station is located on high cliffs which bring the focal plane of the light up to 118 m (387 feet). The name Dyrhólaey literally means "Door Hole Isle", which is actually a nearby peninsula into which the sea has cut a large arch, called the "Door Hole."
Image 4: Lighthouse at Bjargtangar, Iceland's western-
most point. Flickr / IHN_picture
Image 4 shows Bjargtangar lighthouse, which is located at Iceland's westernmost point, and, in theory, the westernmost point of Europe, if you don't count the Azores. The light station here was established in 1913, but the present concrete tower was built in 1948. The tower is small, only 6 m (20 feet) high, but it stands on a high cliff, so the light's focal plane is 60 m (197 feet). The tower is unusual (but similar to a couple others in Iceland), in that it's shaped like a U with an integrated semi-circular lantern room on the second floor. The tower is firmly based on a heavy foundation, and the details of the inset doorway and the small, weather-resistant windows at the rear of the structure show it was intended to withstand severe weather conditions. See
here for a view of this station during rougher weather. This was something of a standard design for Iceland: similar light towers included
Hvalnesviti,
Kirkjuholl, and
Húsavíkurviti.
These are just a few of Iceland's many lighthouses. In each case the lighthouses were designed specifically to fit the sea and coastal area from which the light would be visible. Not too many of the lighthouses seem to have been built with full-time keeper's accommodations, and while I'm not very familiar with the history of Iceland's light service, it seems likely that part-time keepers would have been the general rule.
Lean back and envision yourself as the keeper of Æðarsteinsviti or maybe Svalbarðseyri lighthouse. (See here for a bewitching image of this light station). That might solve some of your worries, but I'm sure there'd be a lot of new ones to take their places. For one thing, you'd need to know how to fix everything that can go wrong. Plus, you'd probably be only a part-timer, so you'd have a day job, which could be a bit tough in the current Icelandic economy.
Well, I hope I've provided some diversion ... Happy Friday!