Faroese Lighthouses

A flash of light in the dark North Atlantic night - and even the most sleepy helmsman rises, staring watchful into the night. Yes, there it is again! The flash is seen for a few seconds as a rotating light cone sweeps out there on the horizon over the ocean, periodically hitting the sailor's iris.

The attention of the helmsman  is well founded. He knows this is a warning – ahead lie the Faroe Islands with their mighty cliffs and colossal promontories rising vertically up from the Atlantic. These are the beautiful, but also the deathly dangerous islands, where centuries-old shipwrecks lie scattered on the bottom of the sea, because the helmsmen of times gone by were not warned by the auspicious beam of light. 

When day breaks the light sources stand revealed. Strange towers, painted red and white, most often located high up on forbidding cliff edges, such as the lighthouses of Slættanes, Nólsoy and Mykines - or as the lighthouse of  Tórshavn, located down by the sea to guide the approaching ships. 

Built in stone or steel over a century ago, the great Faroese lighthouses convey distinctive features of the Victorian era’s industrial design. But even though they stand out from the surrounding landscape, there is something reassuring about them for the Faroese. They are part of our cultural heritage and identity as a maritime nation.

The franking labels feature, respectively, Tórshavn lighthouse from 1909, Nólsoy lighthouse from 1893, Slættanes lighthouse from 1927  and the lighthouse of Mykines from 1909.