Lindesnes Lighthouse

South Cape

The name Lindesnes comes from Old Norse and means “Where the land sinks into the sea.” The waters around Norway’s southern tip are also known as “Lidelsens Nes.” Here where two seas meet and current and wind rule over life and death.

Follow the lighthouse keeper’s daily weather observation
CoastalTravel.no film the weather

Lindesnes Lighthouse

Lindesnes Lighthouse is Norway’s oldest lighthouse station and the country’s southernmost cape point.

On February 27, 1656 Norway’s first lighthouse light was lit at Lindesnes. It consisted of 30 tallow candles burning at the top of a three‑story tower. This was a poor solution and frequent complaints from seafarers led to the light being extinguished after only a few months of operation. Not until 1725 was lighthouse operation resumed.

Since the Middle Ages the sea route between the North Sea and Baltic countries has been one of the most significant trade routes in Northern Europe. Together with Skagen Odde on the northern tip of Denmark, Lindesnes was the most important landfall for navigation in and out through the Skagerrak.

The Cast‑iron Tower

The cast‑iron tower at Lindesnes is, with its 16.1 metres, not particularly tall, but in clear weather the light can be seen 20 nautical miles (37 km) away. The optic is among the largest in existence, a so‑called first‑order lens of French manufacture. Under extreme conditions the sea may break over both the engine house and the tower.

Protected Cultural Monument

Lindesnes lighthouse is a protected cultural monument. The protection covers all buildings, installations and outdoor areas on the site. Today the station appears largely as it did after the modernization in the early 20th century, when there were three resident families at the lighthouse.

War Memorials

On the lighthouse area you also find many traces of the German installations from World War II, with house foundations, corridors, gun emplacements and blown‑out rooms in the rock. Parts of this installation are now available to the public and are used for exhibitions, among other things.

The area is always open and the lighthouse and exhibitions are accessible during the lighthouse museum’s opening hours.

The exhibitions tell both the history of Lindesnes Lighthouse and about the coastal culture and maritime infrastructure.

Today the Lindesnes lighthouse museum is an attraction visited every year by more than one hundred thousand guests from around the world.

The visitor centre in the Fjellhallen includes exhibitions, a cinema, a museum shop and café serving simple, tasteful local and homemade food.

Welcome to a visit – we recommend planning plenty of time when you come here.

Learn more about the coast ‐ CoastalTravel.no

Coastal Heritage Museums

Lindesnes Lighthouse is, together with four other museums, part of the Coast Administration’s state museum, the Coastal Heritage Museums. The four other museums are; Nordkapp Museum – The Museums for Coastal Culture and Reconstruction, Museum Nord – the Lofoten Museum, Sunnmøre Museum – Dalsfjord Lighthouse Museum and Jæren Museum – Tungenes Lighthouse.

Read more about the Coastal Heritage Museums “Norway’s longest museum”