Savudrija Lighthouse
Long service on the Adriatic
The Savudrija lighthouse is the first modern lighthouse on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea and has remained continuously operational to this day.
It was designed by the famous Trieste architect and conservator Pietro Nobile (Campestro 1776 – Vienna 1854), who was a member of the circle of classicist Trieste architects.
This representative lighthouse served as a template (prototype) for other lighthouses that were built later in the 19th century.
Its commissioning on 17 April, 1818, marked the beginning of organized lighthouse services in the then Austrian, and later Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Its construction began in March 1817, funded by issuing shares through the Trieste Chamber of Commerce, which had actively promoted the lighthouse as a means to assist with navigation to the Port of Trieste, the main port of the Empire at the time. The Savudrija lighthouse is based on the idea of a Doric column emerging from a square base, with attached living quarters for two lighthouse keepers, a kitchen, a warehouse, a cistern, and a complex plant for distilling gas from coal.
Local stone that was quarried on the nearby coast and processed in the field was used to build the 19-metre tower, which supported a double gallery and a grey lantern. The buildings, namely a two-storey principal keeper’s house and other single-storey buildings, were a later addition, completed in 1821. The height of the tower was subsequently increased by 10 metres to its current height of 29 metres in the late 19th century.
It is interesting to note that construction started even before the private plots were purchased. This issue was resolved later, but remains a testimony of the haste related to the implementation of this idea. However, construction was stopped due to technical reasons, namely because the complex iron cage (gabbia) of the dome with ventilation openings had to be delivered from Styria (Maria Zell). The solution of the roof covering that was preserved in excellent condition, with specific mechanically processed massive stone slabs arranged like fish scales, is particularly interesting.
In the beginning, the lighthouse used distilled gas obtained from coal from the Raša Coal Mines to produce its light. The gas flowed to the lighthouse ports through pipes that were carried through the still-preserved channel stretching along the lighthouse tower. This process was exceptionally technologically innovative both in the Habsburg Monarchy and the world, considering that a similar public city lighting system was introduced in Vienna in 1818, and in London in 1813. Considering the application of this system for the operation of the lighthouse, and according to the data from available scientific sources and literature, it appears that Savudrija was a pioneer in this area, but this fact has since been completely forgotten. In fact, according to existing literature, the first lighthouse of this type was commissioned in 1865, when John Richardson Wigham designed a gas illumination system for the Baily lighthouse near Dublin. However, the gas lamp in the Savudrija lighthouse was commissioned as many as 47 years earlier.
However, since gas distillation facilities were still in their infancy at the time and had numerous technological weaknesses – for instance, the lamps were prone to soot due to the lack of a sophisticated gas filtering and by-product separation system – and, despite the fact that this form of illumination was somewhat cheaper than oil-based systems, it was replaced by the older and simpler type of illumination, Argand’s olive oil illumination system, namely in 1823.
The lighthouse has been preserved, and the auxiliary building for the lighthouse keeper, the apartments in the lighthouse keeper’s building, the yard, the surroundings, and the roof were renovated a few years ago.
Today Savudrija Lighthouse has main and auxiliary lighting (230V) and is automated.
Text based on material kindly provided by Toni Maričević, Načelnik Sektora, Head of Sector, The Croatian Lighthouse Authority – Plovput Ltd.
Illustrations Plovput ©
IALA e-Bulletin Rapporteur: Paul Ridgway.
