Amede Lighthouse ( French: Le phare Amédée ) is an iron lighthouse located on Amede Island, 24 km from Noumea , New Caledonia .
| Amede Lighthouse | |
|---|---|
 | |
| A country | |
| Sea | Coral sea |
| Location |  New Caledonia , Noumea . |
| Construction date | 1865 year |
| Beacon height | 52 m |
| NUM height | 56 m |
| Auto | Yes |
| Acting | Yes |
Metal components were made in Paris in 1862 and installed there as a demonstration [1] . Then it was disassembled into pieces with a total weight of 388 tons and transported along the Seine River to Port Le Havre for its flight to New Caledonia . It is one of the highest metal lighthouses in the world and it was the first metal lighthouse built in France. The first stone was laid on January 18, 1865 and was first lighted on November 15, 1865, on the day of the Holy Empress Eugenia, the wife of Napoleon III [2] . Its light signals the entrance to the Bulari Strait, one of the three natural passages in the reef surrounding New Caledonia. At the other end of the world, the Roches-Douvres Light lighthouse in the English Channel is the twin brother of Amede Lighthouse. [1] Now it is a very popular tourist attraction.
History
In 1859, the acting commandant of New Caledonia, Jean-Marie Sasset, asked the Paris government to build a lighthouse to assist ships sailing at the port of Noumea (at that time Fort de France), especially considering that this colony was chosen as a new destination for French prisoners.
Given the lack of masons and other skilled workers in the colony, the French lighthouse commission proposed a prefabricated iron structure, a relatively new method, first used in 1841 by British consultant engineer Alexander Gordon for the Morant Point Lighthouse in Jamaica. The Minister of the Navy and the Colonies, Prosper de Chassel-Laubat, approved the project and appointed Leon Reynaud, who had already developed many lighthouses, and who also designed the original Gare du Nord in Paris.
The metalwork was fabricated for four months at Rigolet, which was then to build a tower in the 19th arrondissement of Paris as a demonstration of its stability. The lighthouse remained in Paris from July 1862 to June 1864 and became a popular place for walking Parisians. The structures, packed in 1,200 crates and weighing 388 tons, were transported by the barge to Le Havre , and then sent to New Caledonia in November 1864.
The lighthouse was built on the island of Amede by a mixed team of French soldiers and local workers, led by Louis-Emile Bertin, who later became a major naval architect for both France and Japan. It was first lit on November 15, 1865, on the day of the Holy Empress Eugenia, the wife of Napoleon III.
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Amédée lighthouse .
- ↑ Amedee Island .