from the annual edition of Andros΄ magazine, “EVANDROS”
Even from the top, as you descend towards Andros΄ Chora (the capital), your gaze is captivated by its lighthouse, the Tourliti Lighthouse as it is called, which stands tall and solitary approximately in the middle of the basin formed by the sea. Standing on a cliff, it has lit the way for sailors for more than 120 years.
It is the only one in Europe, which is built on a rock that was in the sea when it was built in 1887. It did not work until 10 years later, in January 1897. Its height is 7 meters, its burning height – i.e. the distance from the point where the lighthouse emits light to the sea surface – is 36 meters and its beam – i.e. its visibility radius from the ships – of 11 nautical miles.
It is the first “automatic” lighthouse in Greece, which did not require supervision while the technology gave it great reliability. During the Second World War it was bombed and destroyed to function again in 1950, with the reconstruction of the network of lighthouses in Greece, as an acetylene machine on the ruins of the old one, while in 1994 it was reconstructed in its original form with a donation from the Goulandris family.
The Tourlitis lighthouse has traveled far and wide as part of the “Lighthouses of Greece” stamp series from the Greek Post Office, making it known worldwide.
Marni Hadjiemanouil
