Lighthouse

The lighthouse of Calella is sited on a 50 metre high headland, where many years before there was a lookout defensive guntower, which protected the coastline from the danger of attack by Algerian pirates. The actual building is located at 41°, 36', 40" north latitude, and 8°, 51', 38" east latitude from the meridian of Saint Ferran and is classified as a third order lighthouse. Construction of the lighthouse began on the 9th October 1856 under the design of the engineer Marià Parellada and was opened on the 15th December 1859. At the beginning the lighthouse lantern used oil and later this was replaced by paraffin and petrol. In 1927, the lantern was changed to electricity and then replaced with one from the lighthouse of the Medes Islands. It has remained the same until the present day with only a few small modifications. The light can be seen 35 miles away and is marked on nautical maps with its distinctive light sequence 3 and 2, every 30 seconds.