Skip to main content

Amedee Lighthouse at Amédée Island in New Caledonia

Amedee Lighthouse at Amédée Island in New Caledonia
amedee-lighthouse-4
The Amédée lighthouse is an iron lighthouse located on Amédée Island, 24 km away from Nouméa, New Caledonia. At 56 meters tall, it is one of the tallest lighthouses in the world and the first metallic lighthouse constructed in France.


The lighthouse was originally constructed in Paris in 1862 and stood two years in La Villette as a demonstration of its stability. Pre-fabricated iron design was a relatively new method and Monsieur Leonce Reynaud, Director of Lighthouses for France, didn’t have much faith in it. During the time when the lighthouse remained in Paris from July 1862 to June 1864, it became a popular destination for Parisians’ walks. After that it was dismantled and packed into 1,265 crates, weighing 388 tonnes in total. It was then transported along the Seine River to the port of Le Havre for the final stage of its long voyage to New Caledonia.
The lighthouse arrived in New Caledonia, in November 1864. After ten months of intense work by military personnel and local workers, it was erected on the Amedee Island. It was first illuminated on the 15th November 1865, the Saint's day of the Empress Eugenie, Napoleon III's wife. Its light signals the entrance to the passage of Boulari, one of only three natural passages in the reef surrounding New Caledonia.
The Amedee lighthouse towers 56 meters above the small island. A spiral cast iron staircase consisting of 247 steps lead to the top. The island is uninhabited, and the lighthouse unmanned except during the daytime when visitors are allowed access. These days it is solar powered but during its life it has been powered by windpump, kerosene and originally colza oil.
Amedee Lighthouse Amédée Islandamedee-lighthouse-1
Amedee Lighthouse Amédée Islandamedee-lighthouse-6
Amedee Lighthouse Amédée Islandamedee-lighthouse-3
Amedee Lighthouse Amédée Islandamedee-lighthouse-5
Amedee Lighthouse Amédée Islandamedee-lighthouse-2

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

China’s Frozen Cave that Doesn’t Melt in Summer

China’s Frozen Cave that Doesn’t Melt in Summer China owns an 85-meter deep pin shaped frozen wonderland, named Ningwu cave, in the mountain range of the Shanxi province. Its structure is subterranean inside the mountain that never melts even in summer. The large stalactites and the spikes of the ice extend from the ceiling to floor. However the floor and walls are completely covered with the thick layers of ice. Ningwu’s unique and excellent ability of not thawing throughout the warm seasons increases its popularity and makes it a must visit place.   This always frozen cave can be seen in the high teen list due to the uniqueness of the phenomenon. There are many such caves where the ice never melts throughout the year in other regions as well, such as Central Asia, continental Europe, and North America. But the reason of their non-melting nature is that they are located in the cooler places where the always low temperature keeps the cave stay at freezing points such as Iceland, Ru

World Largest Vault for Storing Seeds in Norway

World Largest Vault for Storing Seeds in Norway  Way up north in the remote Arctic Svalbard archipelago, shrouded in permafrost and tucked 427 feet into a mountain, lies the  Svalbard Global Seed Vault . Located on the Norwegian Island of Spitsbergen, this futuristic facility safeguards over 850,00 seed copies from all over the planet in case of a global catastrophe. Created as a way to preserve biodiversity of the planet, the vault contains duplicate samples of essential seed varieties that are held in gene banks around the world.

Al-Shaheed Monument an incredible design and architect of Baghdad

Al-Shaheed Monument an incredible design and architect of Baghdad  During the 1970s and 1980s, Saddam Hussein’s government spent a lot of oil money in building monuments around Baghdad. Two of these are quite majestic. One is the  Monument to the Unknown Soldier , which we already wrote about. The other is the Al-Shaheed Monument.