Lista lighthouse – at the edge of the North Sea
Photo: Rolfsteinar / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.5Lista lighthouse has kept watch over the coast for almost two hundred years. Today people come here for the history, the nature, the birds – and perhaps the rather special feeling of standing at the very edge of Norway. And out here the open sea can strike hard.
Lista lighthouse once had three towers, the first of them built in 1836. Today only one tower, from 1853, remains. Although “only” is hardly the word. The tower of hewn granite rises 34 metres above the flat ground, and is still an important landmark for ships out at sea.
Many people visit Lista lighthouse, which is open to the public in summer and at weekends. Climb the 134 steps up the tower, and at the top you can simply enjoy the view of the Lista peninsula and the foaming sea.
There is more to find at the lighthouse:
- The visitor centre for the Lista Wetlands
- Lista Bird Observatory
- An art gallery
- A café (try the lighthouse’s locally made fish soup!)
- An information centre
The lighthouse grounds are open to the public all year round. It is a lovely place for a walk!
Today the lighthouse is automated. The last lighthouse keeper left as recently as 2003.
The lighthouse is owned by the Norwegian Coastal Administration and is a listed building. And Lista lighthouse still guides those at sea, from the 1800s to today and into the future.
Want to visit Lista lighthouse? Take a look at the lighthouse’s official website.