Tahkuna Lighthouse Infrastructure

Tahkuna lighthouse is the tallest cast iron lighthouse on the coasts of Estonia: it is 42.7 metres high from sea level.

Czarist Russia had it commissioned from the 1871 World's Fair in Paris.

Construction began in 1873 and was completed in 1875. The lighthouse was slightly damaged in both World Wars, but was soon repaired. In 1998 the lighthouse underwent major renovations and the lantern room was replaced using a crane. The historic lantern room was placed on the ground next to the lighthouse. The slim, round, tapering tower, which stands 43 metres high, was built from cast-iron components. The watch room floor is surrounded by an open platform on corbel supports. On top of it stands the lantern room with its distinctive cupola. The cast-iron spiral staircase is attached to the outer wall on the inside. Nowadays the light is powered by electricity.

The northern tip of Tahkuna Peninsula was the last bastion of resistance to the Red Army advance from 20-21 October 1941. A German war diary establishes that at 6 AM on 21 October the northern tip of the island was attacked and by 7:45 the lighthouse had been captured without much resistance, with around 900 soldiers taken prisoner. Soviet history books spread stories about the last defender of Hiiumaa, a sailor named Nikolai Chizh, who supposedly had jumped off Tahkuna lighthouse, preferring death over imprisonment.