Thridrangaviti Lighthouse



Þrídrangaviti Lighthouse (transliterated as Thridrangaviti) is an active lighthouse 7.2 km off the southwest coast of Iceland, in the archipelago of Vestmannaeyjar. It is often described as one of the most isolated lighthouses in the world. Þrídrangar means "three rock pillars", referring to the three named sea stacks at that location: Stóridrangur (on which the lighthouse stands), Þúfudrangur, and Klofadrangur. The lighthouse was commissioned on 5 July 1942.

Construction
Þrídrangaviti Lighthouse was constructed during 1938 and 1939. It was originally built by hand without machinery, and it was accessible only by scaling the tallest of the three rocky stacks, whose top is 36.5 m above the sea. It was built under the direction of Árni Þórarinsson [Arni G. Thorarinsson], who recruited experienced mountaineers to scale the sea stack. Their climbing tools did not allow them to bite into the rock near the top, and there were no handholds, so they made a three-person "human stack" - one man on his knees, a second on top of him, and a third one climbing on the second one - for the final pitch. According to Þórarinsson:


 * The first thing we had to do was create a road up to the cliff. We got together experienced mountaineers, all from the Westman Islands. Then we brought drills, hammers, chains and clamps to secure the chains. Once they got near the top there was no way to get any grip on the rock so one of them got down on his knees, the second stood on his back, and then the third climbed on top of the other two and was able to reach the nib of the cliff above. I cannot even tell you how I was feeling whilst witnessing this incredibly dangerous procedure.

The crew stayed on the rock in tents for a month, during the construction. Electricity was installed three years later. The lighthouse was commissioned on 5 July 1942, during WWII. A helipad for helicopter access was added in the 1950s.

Technical features

 * The lighthouse building is situated about 30 m above the sea
 * The building is 4 m square concrete whitewashed single-storey hut, with a roof that resembles a battlement on a medieval castle tower, including embrasure-like openings. The red lantern sits on the roof and is 4 m high.
 * The light is 34 m above the sea (its focal plane), which determines the "height of sight", meaning the light beam is first visible at sea level from 16.7 km.
 * The beam is a long white flash followed by a short white flash every 30s.
 * The lighthouse Admiralty No. is L4802 — cf. List of lighthouses in Iceland

Media
In 2009, a photo taken by Árni Sæberg and published in Morgunblaðið reached a global audience – Justin Bieber re-posted the same photo on his social media increasing its reach. Yrsa Sigurðardóttir used the location in her novel Why Did You Lie? (2016/2013). According to The Lighthouse Directory, videos and photos of the lighthouse "suddenly went viral in July 2016". Video and photos of maintenance workers were uploaded to Facebook in July 2015. The Icelandic band KALEO released a music video recorded on the helipad, on 5 July 2020, the light's 78th anniversary, soon after the start of COVID when the public was isolating and online interest in remote habitations was trending.