In contrast to for example Andenes lighthouse, where the surrounding landscape is flat, the high altitudes at Litløy meant that the lighthouse itself did not need to be as tall. It was constructed as a rectangular brick tower with only one floor.
In a corner of the floor, under the stern of the Hurtigruten ship MS Finnmarken, stands a several meter high installation at the Hurtigruten Museum at Stokmarknes in Vesterålen. The large, round glass construction is an old lighthouse lens. It was first lit at Litløy lighthouse in Bø municipality in October 1912.
The work to put in place a lighthouse at the entrance to the Vesterålsfjord had been going on since the mid-1800s. A large lighthouse had already been built at Andfjorden in Andenes in 1859, but there was not yet a proper lantern at the southwestern end of Vesterålen.
The lens was originally manufactured in Paris, France. The old lighthouses were divided into six orders of magnitude, with the first order being the largest and the sixth order being the smallest. With its diameter of 192 cm, this is a lens of the third order.
The lighthouse was fully staffed year round until 1957. Together with the lighthouse itself, a family home had been built, and there was both a boathouse and a small barn, in addition to other, smaller buildings.
As a result of the wave of centralisation going around the country in the 1950s and 1960s, the tower was operated on a rotating basis as of 1957. That way no one had to stay there all year round.
As a result of the electrification of the lighthouse in 1959, the lens was for a period the second strongest lighthouse in Norway, after Slåtterøy lighthouse in today’s Bømlo municipality at the entrance to the Selbjørnsfjord.
The lens is of the Fresnel type, and is named after the French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel, who is recognized for having developed a lighthouse lens type that was simpler to use and took up less space than the previous types. Before the glass prisms were introduced, mirrors were used to lead the light in the right direction.
The lens comes from the French manufacturer Henry-Lepaute and was specially made for Litløy before the establishment of the lighthouse in 1912.
It has a construction reminiscent of a clam with two bowl-shaped shells which stand mounted against each other with a light source in the middle. Each shell consists of nine brass frames with fixed prisms. In the center of each shell sits a circular “bulls eye”. The “bull’s eye” collected the light in a concentrated bundle of light that was visible over 37 km away.
The lens originally rested in a quicksilver bath, which allowed it to rotate smoothly around its own axis. The rotation was driven by a clockwork that had to be wound up every hour. When the lighthouse was electrified in 1959, the clockwork was replaced with a motor. At the same time, the original kerosene lamp was replaced with a glow lamp. As the lens rotated, the light beams from the bull’s eye created an impression of the light flashing every 15 seconds.
The Fresnel lens was dismantled at Litløy in 1990. In 2003, the last lighthouse keeper left Litløy lighthouse. In 2009, a tower with LED lights was installed next to the lighthouse, which today serves as a lighthouse for the ships entering the Vesterålsfjord. In 1998, the old lens was given as a gift from the Norwegian Coastal Administration to what was then called the Vesterål Museum, today Melbo Manor.
In 2021, the Norwegian Coastal Administration Museum was responsible for preparing the lens for the exhibition at the new Hurtigruten Museum. A new base was constructed for the lens and it was given new light and rotational torque.
The Hurtigruten Museum is one of the few museums in Norway where you can study such a lighthouse lens up close. Today, it can be seen in the permanent exhibition at the Hurtigruten Museum throughout the year
Photo of Litløy lighthouse: Danckert Monrad-Krohn © Vest-Agder county municipality
Sources:
https://snl.no/Augustin-Jean_Fresnel
https://snl.no/linse_-_optikk
https://snl.no/fyr