Cape Vilán lighthouse
History
The first lighthouse in this cape, on Costa da Morte, was built in 1854 and as soon as it was inaugurated it was known that its height was not enough to overpass the most prominent rock in the cape, which provoked a very dangerous dark area, in 1860 it was proposed to build a new lighthouse in the present location. In 1885, the project of building a first range lighthouse was endorsed, that would be the first electrical lighthouse in Spain. It was lighted for the first time in 1896. At the begining the light of the lighthouse was produced by an electric arc between two carbon electrodes. Two systems, one placed in a lamplight,and an additional one al the earth angle, were swapped every 15 minutes due to the excesive incandescence it reached. The rotatory optics show a group of two flashes every 20 seconds. in 1924, the arc lamp was replaced by an incandescent lamp. In 1922, the first radiotelephone was installed. In 1982 the installing of a siren began and a new aeromaritime optics and lanthern that are the ones in operation nowadays, with two flashes every 15''. The lighthouse can be reach from Camariñas that is 100 km away from A Coruña and 90 km from Santiago.
| CAPE VILÁN LIGHTHOUSE SPECIFICATIONS | |
|---|---|
| National No. of Lighthouse/Beacon | 03800 |
| International No. of Lighthouse/Beacon | D-1736 |
| Location | Latitude 043 9,700 N Longitude 009 12,600 W |
| Description | Tower with octagonal base and grey dome. |
| Focal height in meters | 25 |
| Height in meters | 104 |
| Color | White |
| Characteristics | GpD(2) 15s. L0,5 Oc3,5 L0,5 Oc10,5 |
| Reach in miles | 28 |