Farol da Barra, Maritime lighthouse at Barra district in Salvador, Brazil

Farol da Barra is a 22-metre tapered masonry tower inside the Forte de Santo Antônio da Barra, at the entrance to the Bay of All Saints in Salvador. Its black and white bands, lantern and gallery rise from the fort, and its light reaches eighteen nautical miles in clear weather.

The tower was built in 1839 inside the Forte de Santo Antônio da Barra and replaced the original lighthouse from 1698. That earlier structure is considered the first recorded lighthouse on the American continent.

The lighthouse is named Farol da Barra and also Farol de Santo Antônio, after the fort that surrounds it. It has long served as an emblem of Salvador, appearing in literature, art and film, and the English privateer William Dampier noted its lamps guiding ships in his 1699 logbook.

The lighthouse stands inside the Forte de Santo Antônio da Barra at the tip of Ponta de Santo Antônio, at the entrance to the Bay of All Saints. Unlike most Brazilian lighthouses, it is open to the public and may be visited. It is owned by the Brazilian Navy and maintained by the Centro de Auxílios à Navegação Almirante Moraes Rêgo.

A shipwreck of the galleon Santíssimo Sacramento in 1668 at this exact spot led to the construction of the first signal tower. That tragic event made clear that sailors urgently needed guidance when entering the bay.