Ouistreham lighthouse, Maritime lighthouse in Ouistreham, France.
Ouistreham lighthouse is a 38-metre cylindrical granite tower painted white, with a broad red band at the top and a greenish glazed lantern room ringed by a dark gallery railing. It rises from a square stone base with a projecting cornice and a dark arched doorway. Small rectangular windows are set flush in the shaft, and a slender lattice tower stands beside it.
A first 13-metre square tower was built here in 1886; the present 38-metre granite lighthouse entered service in 1905. It was fully automated in 1993. For its centenary in summer 2005, lighting was installed at the base, turning blue with the rising tide and white otherwise.
The tower stands on the left of the channel entering the port, and its red top echoes the port-hand lateral marks of zone A. Since summer 2005 a light at its base turns blue when the tide rises and white otherwise, so Ouistreham residents can read the sea from the colour.
The tower is reached by 171 steps of blue Vire granite up to the lantern; the former keepers' workroom and the area around the tower can be visited. The light is automated and still watched over by a keeper. The lighthouse stands beside the sea lock of the Canal de Caen à la Mer, at the mouth of the Orne.
The red band at the top echoes the port-side lateral markers of zone A, since the tower stands to the left of the channel on entering port. Since summer 2005 a light at the base glows blue on the rising tide and white otherwise, letting residents read the sea's direction at a glance.
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