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Torre de Hercules, what do you think?

Torre de Hercules | Spain

12K views 69 replies 66 participants last post by  AgoraGallery 
#1 ·
Torre de Hercules, the only working Roman lighthouse in existence.





 
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#49 ·
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#50 ·
Since it was built by the Romans, the lighthouse today known as the Tower of Hercules has been a monument worthy of mention. Roman histories and later sources describe it so down to our own times. The Tower became the symbol of the city of A Coruña, thus accepted by residents and institutions. It is the oldest working lighthouse in the world, that has ilt the way for thousands of people over hundreds of years and is now a World Heritage Dite.

Some history:

The lighthouse built by the Romans towards the end of the 1st century and the beginning of the 2nd hsa undergone many changes over the years. Outside stairways, lamps at the top. The rebuilding in 1790 was definitive and there have been no significant changes since then.

The Tower underwent a series of changes that little by little modified its aspect. The core of the Roman building still survives. The outer layer is from the work carried out from 1788 to 1790.

There are two versions about access to the Tower and its system. The first consists of a projecting ramp spiralling up around the core building, while the second says that the ramp was between two walls, the core wall and an outer wall which is now lost. The spiral band was installed by Giannini at the end of the 18th century in memory of the outer ramp.

In spite of the outer covering and finishing dating from the end of the 18th century, the whole inside structure is Roman. The core is square, each side measuring 10 metres. it is divided into three heights with no inside communications. Each floor consists of four communicated rooms used as storerooms or bedrooms.

The outer ramp built by the Romans was destroyed by human action and time. In 1973 Siegfried Hutter defended the existence of an outer projecting ramp and the use of the Tower not only as a lighthouse but also as a defensive watchtower. Three years later, Theodor Hauschild argued that the ramp would have been also on an outer wall that is now lost. Finally, Fernando and Pilar Ugorri argued for the existence of a double outer ramp on the ground floor providing access to the existing doors and windows in the core building. On the other floors there was only one ramp, held up by an outer wall with large openings to illuminate the inside.

Further proof of an outer wall came from the excavations carried out in 1994-95 under the Tower, when Roman and medieval (10th to 12th century) remains came to light.

The restoration at the end of the 18th century made the Tower higher. All researchers coincide in a round shape.

Some pics:











 
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