(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading...
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or framework designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire and used as an aid to navigation and pilots at sea or on inland waterways.
Lighthouses are used to mark dangerous coastlines, hazardous shoals and reefs, and safe entries to harbours and can also assist in aerial navigation. Once widely used, the number of operational lighthouses has declined due to the expense of maintenance and replacement by modern electronic navigational aids.
Visiting and photographing lighthouses are popular hobbies, as is collecting ceramic replicas. Some lighthouses are popular travel destinations in their own right, and the buildings are maintained as tourist attractions.
According to the ARLHS, there are 25 lighthouses in Sri Lanka. Out of them, there are 14 active lighthouses. While most of these lighthouses are under the control of the Ports Authority while others are under the control of the Sri Lanka Navy.
There are 4 international lighthouses in Sri Lanka. They are
Lighthouses of Sri Lanka
Batticaloa Lighthouse (මඩකලපුව ප්රදීපාගාරය)
Batticaloa Lighthouse is located few kilometers from the town of Batticaloa on the Bar Road. It takes approx 15-20 minutes drive from the town to the light house. This is round masonry tower with 5 windows, lantern and gallery, painted…
Batticaloa Old Lighthouse (මඩකලපුව පැරණි ප්රදීපාගාරය)
Constructed in 1878, this lighthouse was described as projecting a flashing bright light at the entrance to the Batticaloa River. It stood 15.2 meters [50 feet] tall and was constructed on the flagstaff of the watchtower at the river bar.…
Beruwala Barberyn Island (Crow Island) Lighthouse (බේරුවල ප්රදීපාගාරය)
Beruwela lighthouse is located on Barberyn Island on the southwest coast of Sri Lanka. An exciting 10-minute boat ride from the town of Beruwela will transport you to Barberyn Island,
Chapel Hill Lighthouse (Trincomalee Bay)
The Chapel Hill lighthouse lies on the North of the Trincomalee harbour. This lighthouse is currently operated by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority. The lighthouse lies on a small island in the bay and is accessible only by boat.
Colombo Galbokka Lighthouse (කොලඹ ගල්බොක්ක ප්රදීපාගාරය)
Colombo Galbokka Lighthouse in Sri Lanka is operated and maintained by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority. It is located at Galbokka Point south of the Colombo harbour on the waterfront along the marine drive, in Colombo fort.
Colombo Harbor Breakwater North End Lighthouse (කොළඹ වරාය දියකඩනය දකුණු කෙලවර ප්රදීපාගාරය)
Colombo Harbor Breakwater North End Lighthouse is one of the six lighthouses in the Colombo Harbour. The lighthouse was commissioned in 1907 and is currently active. It has a focal plane of 13 m (43 ft) and flash green every…
Colombo Harbor Breakwater Northeast Lighthouse (කොළඹ වරාය දියකඩනය ඊසානදිග ප්රදීපාගාරය)
The Colombo Harbor Breakwater Northeast Lighthouse was commissioned in 1907 and is currently active. It has a focal plane of 13 m (43 ft) and has a continuous red light. This is a 10 m (33 ft) round concrete tower…
Colombo Harbor Breakwater South End Lighthouse (කොළඹ වරාය දියකඩනය දකුණු කෙලවර ප්රදීපාගාරය)
The Colombo Harbor Breakwater South End Lighthouse is one of the six lighthouses in the Colombo Harbour and was built in 1905. This is a 12 m (36 ft) round stone tower with a lantern and gallery, painted white. This…
Colombo Harbor Pilot Station Lighthouse (කොළඹ වරාය නියමු කාර්යාල ප්රදීපාගාරය)
Colombo Harbor Pilot Station Lighthouse is one of the six lighthouses in the Colombo Harbour and was completed along with the breakwater in 1885.
Colombo Harbor Southwest Breakwater Lighthouse (කොළඹ වරාය දියකඩනය නිරිතදිග කෙලවර ප්රදීපාගාරය)
The Colombo Harbor Southwest Breakwater Lighthouse lies at the end of the Southwestern Breakwater of the Colombo Harbour. This breakwater was completed in 1885 at cost of £705,000 using 300 convicts to load / unload rocks from a query at…
Colombo Harbour South Breakwater Lighthouse (කොළඹ වරාය දකුණු දියකඩනය ප්රදීපාගාරය)
The Colombo harbour south breakwater lighthouse lighthouse was commissioned in 2013 with the opening of the south breakwater of the latest international terminal of the Colombo Port.
Dondra Head Lighthouse (දෙවුන්දර තුඩුව ප්රදීපාගාරය)
Dondra Head Lighthouse was built in 1889 at a height of 160m making it still the tallest lighthouse in Sri Lanka and was designed by Sir James Nicholas Douglass and constructed by William Douglass of the Imperial Lighthouse Service.
Galle Lighthouse (ගාල්ල ප්රදීපාගාරය)
The Galle lighthouse is situated inside the landmark Galle Fort. It is built seven metres above the road on the ramparts. This is Sri Lanka’s oldest light station dating back to 1848, but the original lighthouse was destroyed by fire…
Great Basses & Little Basses Reef lighthouses (මහා රාවණා හා කුඩා රාවණා ප්රදීපාගාර)
Great Basses reef and the Little Basses reef are two rock formations on the south-east coast of Sri Lanka. Locals call these ‘Maha Ravana’ and Kuda Ravana’ reefs respectively.
Hambantota Lighthouse – හම්බන්තොට ප්රදීපාගාරය
The Hambanthota Lighthouse was built in 1913 with a height of 14 metres. This is a round masonary tower with a lantern and a gallery. The rocks which have been used to build this tower gives a the impression of…
Ilavalai Lighthouse in Jaffna (යාපනය ඉලවාලෙයි ප්රදීපාගාරය)
The Ilavalai Lighthouse is square in design, with a hollow central shaft. A cement stairway leads to the top platform. Unlike traditional lighthouses equipped with parabolic reflectors, this structure uses a single powerful light to guide fishing boats approaching the…
Kankesanthure Lighthouse (කන්කසන්තුරේ ප්රදීපාගාරය)
The Kankesanthure lighthouse (Kankesanthurai/KKS) lies in the vicinity of the KKS harbour.Both the harbour and the lighthouse is surrounded by an ancient fortified wall built by the Portuguese and the Dutch.
Kovilan Point Lighthouse at Karaitivu Island (කෝවිලන් තුඩුව ප්රදීපාගාරය)
Kovilan Point lighthouse lies in the Jaffna peninsula on the north western corner of the Karativu island about 25 km from the Jaffna town. This is the largest island in the peninsula and is connected to the mainland though a…
New Talaimannar Lighthouse and the Old Pier (තලෙයිමන්නාරම ප්රදීපාගාරය)
The new Talaimannar lighthouse in was built in 1915 and was 19m high. The tower has not been maintained for during the recent past due to the war situation which existed for the last 30 years.
Old Clock Tower Lighthouse in Colombo (කොලඹ පැරණි ඔරලෝසු කණු ප්රදීපාගාරය)
The Colombo Old Lighthouse, now functioning solely as a clock tower, stands as a historic monument at the junction of Chatham Street and Janadhipathi Mawatha (formerly Queens Road) in Colombo Fort. Although its lighthouse function is no longer operational, the…
Old Talaimannar Lighthouse (Urumalai Lighthouse)
The Old Talaimannar Lighthouse (Urumalai Lighthouse) is located at that south of the island at the start of the Adams Bridge, the natural sand bank which stretch all the way to India. This area is called Urumalai, thus this is…
Old Trincomalee Lighthouse on Swami Rock (ත්රිකුණාමලය පැරණි ප්රදීපාගාරය)
The British built their first lighthouse in Trincomalee in the year 1845 on the flagstaff post of the old Trincomalee Fort (Fort Frederick). The lighthouse had one single light with 2 reflectors with an elliptical focus of 6 ½ inches.…
Oluvil Lighthouse (ඕලුවිල් ප්රදීපාගාරය)
Oluvil Lighthouse is the only lighthouse built after independence of Sri Lanka. It was built in 1999 along with the Potuvil fisheries harbour. The lighthouse is a 24 metre high white cylindrical tower with an lantern and gallery attached to…
Point Pedro Lighthouse (පේදුරු තුඩුව ප්රදීපාගාරය)
Point Padro lighthouse lies in the North Eastern corner of Sri Lanka. Built in 1916, this is 32 m (105 ft) tall. Access to the light house was restricted for the last 30 years due to the Tamil Terrorists in…
Pungudutivu Survey Tower in Jaffna (පුන්ගුඩුතිවු දූව මිනින්දෝරු කුළුණ)
Pungudutivu is an island in Jaffna peninsula separated from the mainland from east by a shallow channel approximately 3.5 km away. A 3.8 km causeway connects this island to mainland. A 1.75 km wide channel to Nainativu separates the island…
Remains of the Mullaitivu Lighthouse (මුලතිව් ප්රදීපාගාරය)
Mullaittivu Lighthouse is said to be an iron structure and was described by NGA as an “iron latticework obelisk.” Built in 1896 to a height of 20 meters, it survived to for over 100 years. This was located near the…
Sampur Foul Point Lighthouse (සාම්පූර් ප්රදීපාගාරය)
Sampur, which has been liberated by the Security Forces from the LTTE terrorists (in 2007) , is home to one of the most famous lighthouses in the country. The Foul Point Lighthouse (aka Sampur Lighthouse) has been guiding seafarers safely…
Sangaman Kanda Point Lighthouse (සංගමන් කන්ද තුඩුව ප්රදීපාගාරය)
Sangaman Kanda Point (Sangamankanda) is the most eastern point in Sri Lanka. The beaches here are still unspoilt and as wide as 100 meters at some places. The Sangaman Kanda Lighthouse has been built in 1947 with a height of 25feet.…
The First Lighthouse of Colombo (කොලඹ මුල්ම ප්රදීපාගාරය)
This Colombo lighthouse was used to mark the Colombo Port at night with one fixed light. The lighthouse was built on a wooden structure surrounding a 2 story high brick building on the flagstaff bastion of the Colombo Fort. The…
0-09 m (89) 10-19 m (77) 20-29 m (47) 30-39 m (50) 40-49 m (25) 50-99 m (50) Ambalama (176) Ancient Anicuts (35) Articles (0) Asanaghara (8) Ashtapala Bodhi (5) Attraction Articles (3) Attractions (266) Beaches (10) Biosphere Reserves (3) Botanical Gardens (5) Bridges (35) Cave Art (12) Caving (7) Churches (30) Cities (9) Destinations (18) Dethis Pala Bodhi (27) Devalaya (51) Events (3) Flora and Fauna (82) Forts (52) Heritage (1918) Heritage Articles (27) Historic Events (7) History (7) Hot Springs (9) Hydro Heritage (104) Irrigation Articles (4) Islands (15) Kings of Sri Lanka (188) Kovils (29) Kuludage (11) Lighthouses (29) Memorials (57) Mile Posts (6) Misc (1) Mosques (4) Museums (15) National Parks (24) over 100 m (20) Pabbatha Vihara (13) Padhanagara (27) Personalities (211) Pillar/Slab Inscriptions (48) Popular Tourist Attractions (231) Pre Historic Burial Sites (22) Prehistory (42) Prehistory Articles (2) RAMSAR sites (6) Ravana (16) Reservoirs (72) Rock Inscriptions (36) Ruins in Wilpattu (11) Ruins in Yala (25) Santuaries (7) Sluice Gates (17) Stone Bridges (18) Strict Nature Reserves (3) Sumaithangi (3) Survey Towers (18) Tampita Vihara (242) Travel (5) View Points (24) Walawwa (13) War Memorials (26) Waterfalls (380) Wildlife Articles (28) Yathuru Pokuna (4)
Abhayagiri Monastery (20) Ampara District (196) Anuradhapura District (240) Badulla District (123) Batticaloa District (86) Colombo District (123) Galle District (76) Gampaha District (63) Hambantota District (124) Jaffna District (77) Kalutara District (53) Kandy District (217) Kegalle District (165) Kilinochchi District (13) Kingdom of Anuradhapura (88) Kingdom of Kandy (19) Kingdom of Kotte (9) Kingdom of Polonnaruwa (58) Kurunegala District (183) Maha Vihara (18) Mannar District (47) Mannar Island (10) Matale District (94) Matara District (53) Mihintale (22) Monaragala District (113) Mullaitivu District (39) Negombo (5) Nuwara Eliya District (126) Polonnaruwa District (138) Puttalam District (43) Ratnapura District (177) Trincomalee District (80) Vavuniya District (34) waterfalls in Sinharaja (3) z Delft 1 (5) z Jaffna 1 (20) z Jaffna 2 (26) z Jaffna 3 (14)