| For the fourth year the Swedish Lighthouse
Society (www.fyr.org) arranged the International Lighthouse Day in The
International Lighthouse Day in Sweden 2006
Sweden. Year 2003 we had 2500 visitors to 33 Lighthouses, year 2004 there were 4500 visitors to 52 Lighthouses, year 2005 more than 6800 visitors to 57 Lighthouses and this year on 20th of August we had more than 5000 visitors to 62 Lighthouses in spite of a lousy weather. Based on this years very rainy windy weather with thunderstorms on the west coast and in the south of Sweden we expected a dramatic decrease of visitors. This happened in rainy areas but it was to some extent compensated by a big increase in number of visitors in the north where the weather was sunny. So all in all we are very satisfied to have more than 5000 visitors. We want the International Lighthouse Day to be celebrated in as many places as possible in order for people to realise how important it is to save our Lighthouse heritage for the future. We would however prefer to arrange the Lighthouse Day in July/early August when people have vacation and are out in the archipelago with their boats. Some of our Lighthouses (mainly: Bjuröklubb, Örskar, Djursten, Finngrundet, Stora Karlsö, Hoburg, Ölands Norra Udde, Ölands Södra Udde, Garpen, Utklippan, Kullen, Vinga and Maseskär) are also open during the whole summer which means that during the year there are at least another 100.000 visitors to our Lighthouses. The most visited Lighthouse during the International Lighthouse Day 2006 was Bjuröklubb with more than 500 visitors and on the second place with around 400 visitors came Bönan outside Gävle and opened for the first time. Falsterbo and Kullen had more than 300 each, the Lightvessel Finngrundet had 279, När 222, Örskär more than 200, Djursten more than 170, Fårö 162, Häradskär and Grapen 150 each. Ölands Norra Udde and Ölands Södra Udde hade each more than 120, Stavik 110, Grynge 104, Morups Tånge 101 Segerstad 100, Hoburg and Hammarö Skage 80 each, Vinga 75, Östergarn 65 and Brämön 64 visitors. Gåsören, Stora Fjäderägg, Bergudden, Högbonden, Lungö, Limö, Söderarm, Grönskär, Landsort, Gotska Sandön, Stenkyrkehuk, Stora Karlsö, Hanö, Smygehuk, Bohus Malmön, Hållö, Nordkoster and Vanäs Udde had 30 – 55 visitors each. The remaining 21 Lighthouses namely: Rödkallen, Pite-Rönnskär, Rataskär, Sundklubben, Skags udde, Svenska Högarna, Huvudskär, Dämman, Ingrunden, Utklippan, Sandhammaren, Hallands Väderö, Nidingen, Malö, Malöhamn, Valö, Pater Noster, Måseskär, Väderöbod, Ursholmen and Hjortens Udde had between 0 and 25 visitors each. At the same time when we celebrated the day the radio amateurs had their radio weekend and transmitted from 26 Swedish lighthouses of which 16 were kept open by us. This means that all in all 72 Swedish Lighthouses were open during the International Lighthouse Day. We have received many positive reports from visitors and participating Lighthouses and different activities have taken place. All in all it was a fantastic day and this year we got an even better coverage in newspapers, radio and TV than earlier. Once again we believe it is very important that people hear about and visit Swedish Lighthouses which constitutes such an important part of our maritime heritage. If you want to locate a Swedish Lighthouse look at www.fyr.org , push the button “Fyrar” third from the bottom to the left, then push the first line “Svensk Fyrkarta ritad av Leif Elsby”. You can then click on any name on the map to get more info about that specific Lighthouse. Esbjörn Hillberg
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