Lindau Lighthouse
Leuchtturm Lindau
Interesting facts
- The white flash is switched on by radio signals sent from ships approaching the harbour, rather than shining unattended all night.
- Facing the lighthouse across the harbour mouth, the six-metre Bavarian Lion was sculpted by Johann von Halbig and set up in 1856, the year the light was first lit.
- Including its lantern the tower stands about 36 metres tall, with the light itself some 35 metres above the lake.
- The 139 steps climb through five storeys on wooden staircases, past walls hung with old drawings and stories about Lindau and the lake.
- After the harbour was sold to the municipal utility of Konstanz in 2002, the lighthouse returned to the town of Lindau in April 2010.
- Its predecessor, the medieval Mangturm, marked the end of the town wall and could originally be reached only by a wooden bridge.
Why it is worth it
Lindau's lighthouse stands at the end of the western breakwater of the harbour of Lindau island, facing the Bavarian Lion on the opposite mole, and the two together form one of the most photographed harbour entrances on Lake Constance. It is the only lighthouse in Bavaria and the southernmost in Germany. Because the lake itself lies high, its light also burns at the greatest altitude of any in the country, some 428 metres above sea level.
The tower was built between 1853 and 1856 and first lit on 4 October 1856, taking over from the Mangturm, a medieval tower of around 1230 that had guided boats into the old harbour. It is a round stone tower 33 metres to the gallery, 24 metres around at the base, with a detail that very few lighthouses have: a large clock set into its facade, so that the harbour's time is read from the same tower as its light. The whole port had been laid out for the Bavarian state railway, whose line reached Lindau in 1853.
For its first six years the light came from oil fires kept burning in large pans, and the keeper also worked a fog bell and the bellows of a fog horn. Petroleum and then gas followed, electricity arrived in 1936, and in the early 1990s the light was fully automated. It flashes white every three seconds from two rotating parabolic lamps. In 1945 a radio station for talking to ships was installed in the old keeper's room.
Today the tower belongs to the town again and is open to visitors. A stair of 139 steps climbs past displays about the lake's plants, animals and weather and the history of shipping on Lake Constance to a gallery that runs all the way round, with an all-round view over the harbour, the town and the lake.
Getting there
The lighthouse is on Lindau island, about 0.4 km from the centre of Lindau. The Lindau-Insel railway station lies right beside the harbour. The nearest airport is St. Gallen-Altenrhein Airport (ACH) in Switzerland, 11.3 km away; in Germany, Bodensee Airport Friedrichshafen (FDH) is 19.3 km away.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
The Lindau Lighthouse is a lighthouse in Lindau, on Lake Constance. It is the southernmost lighthouse in Germany, and the only lighthouse in Bavaria. It is 33 metres (108 ft) tall and has a circumference of 24 metres (79 ft) at its base. Notably, it has a clock in its facade.
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