Long John Lighthouse, Öland's Southern Cape

Öland · Sweden · Lighthouse

Sweden's tallest lighthouse was raised in 1785 from the stone of the shipwrecked men's own chapel – on the shore that used to take everything.

Öland's southern cape is a low tongue of limestone and shingle running out into the Baltic, with shoals far offshore and currents that pull. Ships were lost here in such numbers that the crown finally had to act: in 1785 Långe Jan was lit, a forty-two-metre tower that is still Sweden's tallest lighthouse. Its building stone came partly from the ruin of the medieval chapel of St John on the cape – a chapel that had existed precisely for the seafarers who drowned here. Around the lighthouse lies Ottenby with its royal estate, the long wall, and a bird migration that blackens the autumn sky. The shingle fields are littered with wreck timber, and in darkness and sea fog the beam sweeps over water that hides a great many.

FAQ

Where is Long John Lighthouse, Öland's Southern Cape located?

Long John Lighthouse, Öland's Southern Cape is in Öland, Sweden.

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Accounts are drawn from local folklore and visitor reports.

Image: Hstad · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons