Boujdour lighthouse

About

The Boujdour lighthouse (Spanish: Faro de Bojador, French: Phare de Boujdour, Arabic: منارة راس بوجدور) is a lighthouse located near Cape Bojador in the city of Boujdour in the Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra region, in Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara. The Boujdour lighthouse became a historical monument.

The lighthouse is on the Atlantic coast in the center of the city of Boujdour, 180 kilometres (110 mi) south of Laayoune. The present structure replaced a 1903 square tower on the fort of Boujdour. It was built while Western Sahara was a Spanish colony. Work began in 1953 and the lighthouse was commissioned in 1959. Morocco occupied the territory in 1975 and created Boujdour Province in 1976. The legal status is still disputed.

The lighthouse tower is 52 metres (171 ft) high. The building has a circular diameter of about 3 metres (9.8 ft). The structure contains a particularly hard stone, similar to granite. It is a white conical concrete tower, with beige vertical stripes. It has a spiral staircase with 246 steps. The equipment has been modernized. The light emits three white flashes every 15 seconds, at a focal height of 70 metres (230 ft) above sea level, with a maximum range of approximately 44 kilometres (27 mi). The lighthouse is considered a historical monument. It is managed by the Port and Maritime Authority within the Ministry of Equipment, Transport and Logistics.

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.