Helsinki lighthouse, Caisson lighthouse in Gulf of Finland, Finland
The Helsinki lighthouse is a caisson-style tower made of reinforced concrete, standing offshore in the Gulf of Finland near Helsinki. The tower rises from a wide cylindrical base and is divided into several levels that house technical equipment and working spaces.
The tower was built in 1958 at the Suomenlinna shipyard and then towed out to its position in the gulf. This method of building the structure on land before floating it into place was common for offshore maritime works of that era.
For sailors entering the Gulf of Finland, the Helsinki lighthouse is one of the first recognizable fixed points on the water. Its concrete silhouette has become a familiar signal that Helsinki's waters are near.
The lighthouse stands at sea and is not open to visitors. It is best seen from a boat, as it is not visible from the shore.
Inside the tower, the Finnish Meteorological Institute runs a weather station that continuously monitors conditions in the gulf. This means the structure serves two separate purposes at once, which most people passing by would never know.
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