Unterfeuer Wittenbergen, Navigational lighthouse in Rissen, Hamburg, Germany
The Unterfeuer Wittenbergen is the lower light of the Wittenbergen–Tinsdal leading line for ships heading down the Elbe, in Hamburg's Rissen district. It is a 30-metre hexagonal open steel lattice tower around a circular pylon, with a gallery, a large round lantern and the technical room beneath the gallery. The tower is painted red with three white bands; the lantern is white with a black roof.
The steel lattice towers were built in 1899, and the light entered service in January 1900 as the lower light of the Wittenbergen–Tinsdal leading line for ships heading down the Elbe. In September 1905 the 30-metre, four-tonne tower was moved nine metres south because the navigation channel of the Unterelbe had shifted. In 1927 the petroleum lamp with otter blinds was replaced by a liquid-gas lantern with belt optics, and the tower received the red-and-white paint scheme it still wears.
Wittenbergen is the rear light of the Wittenbergen–Tinsdal leading line, which guides ships heading downriver on the Elbe; the front light stands at Tinsdal. The tower keeps the red paint with three white bands applied in 1927, and its lantern is white with a black roof. The light shows a white flash of 4 seconds in an 8-second period.
The tower stands on the Elbe bank in Rissen, in Hamburg's Altona borough, and is not open to visitors inside. It is seen from the public paths along the river; the rear light at Tinsdal lies further downstream and completes the alignment. The lamp is remote-controlled and runs automatically.
The tower is one of the oldest steel lighthouses built in the Treppenrohr mit Gratsparren method, a lattice design around a circular pylon. Its red paint with three white bands dates from the 1927 conversion, when a petroleum lamp with Otterblenden was replaced by a liquid-gas lantern with belt optics.
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