Blankenese Upper Lighthouse, Navigation lighthouse in Blankenese, Germany.
Blankenese Upper Lighthouse is a cylindrical concrete structure with a white exterior and two red horizontal bands rising 40 meters above the Elbe River. The tower is topped with a red lantern house that once guided ships across a range of 8.4 kilometers.
This tower was built in 1984 to replace older navigation aids that no longer met the needs of river traffic. Operations ceased in 2020 when changes to the river channel made the lighthouse obsolete for modern shipping.
This structure was designed specifically to help ships navigate the Elbe River, reflecting how maritime communities rely on such landmarks for safe passage. The building remains a physical reminder of the close relationship between Hamburg and river navigation.
The lighthouse sits on the riverbank in Blankenese and can be viewed from the waterfront promenade. The structure is not open for entry, so visitors can only observe it from outside.
The lantern house weighed eleven tons and required a mobile crane to lift it to the tower's top, a significant engineering challenge at the time. The lighting was also designed to be visible to aircraft, serving dual purposes for both water and air navigation.
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