Lighthouses

📖 In short

A lighthouse is a tall tower by the sea with a very bright light at the top that shines at night. It guides sailors on their way, tells them land is near and warns them of dangerous rocks so their ships don't hit them.

🤩 Did you know?

The Lighthouse of Alexandria was more than 120 meters tall.
The Romans built lighthouses at several ports about two thousand years ago.
Augustin Fresnel invented his famous lens in 1822.
In Arabic, the word “manara” (lighthouse) comes from “nar”, the fire that was once lit at the top.

🔎 Find out more

🌟 The Lighthouse of Alexandria

The ancient Egyptians built the huge Lighthouse of Alexandria, the tallest lighthouse ever built and one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. It guided ships for hundreds of years before earthquakes destroyed it.

🔍 Every lighthouse has its signal

Every lighthouse flashes in its own way: some once, some twice, some in different colors. From the flashes a sailor knows which lighthouse they're seeing and exactly where they are.

💡 An amazing lens

At the top of a lighthouse is a big special lens invented by the French scientist Fresnel, which gathers the lamp's light into a strong beam that can be seen from very far away.