A lighthouse on Banghwa Island designated as cultural heritage

The oldest steel tower lighthouse in South Korea, the former “Banghwa Island lighthouse,” has been designated as lighthouse cultural heritage.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries announced on Tuesday that the former Banghwa Island lighthouse located at the Hallyeohaesang National Park on Geoje’s Banghwa Island has been designated as the 24th lighthouse cultural heritage.

The ministry’s lighthouse cultural heritage committee unanimously agreed on its designation on August 26 after deliberation. The lighthouse is eight-meter-tall steel tower, built in 1911. Additional two meters were added in 1981 and it has been kept as it was ever since then. As a new 15-meter-tall Banghwa Island lighthouse was built in proximity back in 2006, the old lighthouse has passed its role of guiding ships coming in and out of the Tongyeong port to the new one.

As the former Banghwa Island lighthouse has been maintained in its original shape despite its 108 years of age, it holds historical value as the oldest steel tower lighthouse in the country. The bottom structure with lily details, the top part shaped in a watchtower, and the architectural technology that assembled L-shaped section steel with nails and bolts were highly eval‎uated from an architectural point of view.

The lighthouse lantern used was AGA-type and operated automatically, which also holds some significance. The AGA lighthouse lantern, which was considered to be an innovative invention when the lighthouse was built, uses the sun valve that closes after sunrise and opens after sunset to operate the light.


Won-Mo Yu onemore@donga.com