Thursday, December 3, 2015


Tower of Hercules


The Tower of Hercules has served as a lighthouse and landmark at the entrance of La Coruña harbour in north-western Spain since the late 1st century A.D. when the Romans built the Farum Brigantium. The Tower, built on a 57 metre high rock, rises a further 55 metres, of which 34 metres correspond to the Roman masonry and 21 meters to the restoration directed by architect Eustaquio Giannini in the 18th century, who augmented the Roman core with two octagonal forms. Immediately adjacent to the base of the Tower, is a small rectangular Roman building. The site also features a sculpture park, the Monte dos Bicos rock carvings from the Iron Age and a Muslim cemetery. The Roman foundations of the building were revealed in excavations conducted in the 1990s. Many legends from the Middle Ages to the 19th century surround the Tower of Hercules, which is unique as it is the only lighthouse of Greco-Roman antiquity to have retained a measure of structural integrity and functional continuity.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1312



The Tower of Hercules is a lighthouse of Roman origin that is used as such until today. The Romans constructed the Farum Brigantium at the end of the 1st century or beginning of the 2nd. Its use was not continuous, during the Middle Ages it fell into disrepair. The lighthouse became of interest again during the 15th century, when La Coruña became an important port.

Major reconstruction work was done in the 18th century. Its current form is in the neo-classical style.

The current structure is 55 metres tall, while the Roman core is 34 metres. It stands on Eiras peninsula to guard Galician coastline at the North Atlantic coast of Spain. 

http://www.worldheritagesite.org/sites/towerofhercules.html

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