Oviši Lighthouse Ovišu bāka | |||||||
Location: | Oviši, Ventspils Municipality Latvia | ||||||
Coordinates: | 57.5688°N 21.7159°W | ||||||
Yearbuilt: | 1814 | ||||||
Construction: | stone tower | ||||||
Shape: | broad cylindrical tower with balcony and lantern | ||||||
Marking: | white tower and lantern | ||||||
Height: | 33m (108feet) | ||||||
Focalheight: | 38m (125feet)[1] | ||||||
Country: | Latvia | ||||||
Countrynumber: | UZ-475[2] | ||||||
Module: |
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Oviši Lighthouse (Latvian: Ovišu bāka) is a lighthouse located in, Latvia near Tārgale on the Courland Peninsula coast of the Baltic Sea.
The lighthouse is the oldest functioning lighthouse in Latvia; the village was once a settlement of plunderers which made false signal-fires to rob seamen on stranded ships and steal their goods. The locality, on historic maps, is known as Lusesort or Lyserort.[3] The name originates from the Swedish word lysa, meaning to burn;[4] ort meaning cape.[5] When the lighthouse was built in the nineteenth century, it was used as a navigational aid, with its walls more than half a metre thick. The lighthouse is 33 metres in height, built as a double-cylindrical structure, with a 3.5adj=midNaNadj=mid storage building westward of the lighthouse. Currently the base of the lighthouse houses a museum based on the history of Latvia's lighthouses.[6] [7]