Merenkurkun saariston majakka- ja luotsisaaret (Fyr- och lotsöar i Kvarkens skärgård)

English translation (from the Finnish)

The text above is the record as published by the Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), in Finnish. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto); it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

Description

The lighthouse and pilot islands are located within the Merenkurkku archipelago World Natural Heritage site and excellently illustrate the development of maritime administration and lighthouse technology in the area.

MUSTASAARI

Valassaari has a lighthouse designed by the French engineer Henry Lepaute, together with a valuable ensemble of staff buildings that reflects the working community and life of the lightkeepers. The 36-metre-high lighthouse on Valassaaret has a tubular core in its iron-element frame, inside which spiral stairs rise to the top of the tower. The tube is surrounded by a supporting structure formed by six pillars and the lattice girders that join them. Beneath the upper section's glass-walled lantern is the lightkeeper's duty room. The lighting apparatus is a plastic-lens system from the 1980s. The lighthouse is supported by guy wires installed in 1936. The lightkeepers' buildings, like the lighthouse, were completed in the 19th century. Some were renewed in the early 20th century. The buildings are grouped into a yard area to the north of the lighthouse. The surroundings contain small cultivated plots bounded by dry-stone walls, remains of hay barns, and, to the west, among other things, ruins of harbour structures, remains of postal horse stables, and foundations of shore granaries. In addition, on the east shore of Storskär there is the ruin of an old landmark beacon. In the hollow between Storskär and Ebbskär there is a well-preserved stone bridge, which is connected to an embankment road built in the 1880s. On the north shore of Ebbskär there is a modern coastguard station.

Norrskär is surrounded by open sea, and the lighthouse community on this treeless island is visible across the whole island and far out to sea. The Norrskär lighthouse is one of 14 octagonal brick lighthouses from the 19th century. The lightkeepers' buildings are tightly grouped around the tower. The buildings follow 19th-century standard drawings. Beside the community is a large pilot station.

The landmark beacon on the Ritgrund moraine skerry, dating from the late 19th century, has been converted into a light tower, which reflects the development of maritime safety equipment. Ritgrund is the country's only wooden light tower. Next to it is a pilot watch cabin, and on the island the functional concept of the pilot station and landmark beacon building groups is crystallised.

The only building on the rocky island of Ensten is a pyramid-shaped landmark beacon, which is unique in its log construction. The beacon, which indicates the course of the fairway, has retained its relationship to its surroundings in the manner of the 19th century.

The pilot watch cabin on Yttre Uddskär is associated with the reconstruction phase following the Crimean War. Its facades are still a rarity built to standard drawings. The neighbouring newer watch cabin from the 1920s-1930s also retains its facade in its original form. The surroundings also include a harbour sheltered by a long breakwater, and an outbuilding linked to the newer watch cabin.

MAALAHTI

The Rönnskär pilot station and landmark beacon is a good example of a maritime civil service community. Its exceptionally large building stock includes buildings from almost 200 years. The Rönnskär landmark beacon is Finland's oldest surviving wooden navigation mark. Painted red and almost 22 metres high, the landmark beacon resembles a bell tower. The two 19th-century pilot stations on the island are long single-storey wooden houses with low watch towers. The pilot and coastguard station built in 1967 is a two-storey brick building.

The well-preserved Lillsanden lightkeeping community, the last of its type from the early 20th century, is located on a rocky skerry in the Rönnskär outer archipelago. In front of it is the Lillsanden ground light, which was tended by the keepers and is well preserved. Lillsanden illustrates the first period of use of automatic light beacons and the activity of the occupational group that arose with them.

Strömmingsbådan is a small rocky skerry on the edge of the open sea, whose lighthouse community's building stock is historically layered and varied. The buildings, executed to 19th-century standard drawings, follow the shapes of the rock and cover much of the skerry. The site crystallises features typical of historical lighthouse communities, such as maritime character, isolation, and a harsh and limited living environment. The lighthouse belongs to the iron lighthouses of the late 19th century, but it is individual and has in places retained its late 19th-century appearance, including its fixed interior fittings (e.g. the Fressnel lens system). The latest building phase is represented by a large residential building completed in the 1940s. The lightkeeping community's buildings are in their form from when the lighthouse was manned and are in good condition. They reflect changes in the working environment of the lightkeeper throughout the history of the occupation.

KORSNÄS

The Svettgrund navigation mark indicates the starting point of the fairway leading from the southern side of Moikipää to Bergö and Vaasa. The pooki, characteristic of the Gulf of Bothnia, is the only large-sized riukumerkki surviving in our country. The riukumerkki, almost 18 metres high and resembling a sharp-pointed pyramid, is erected on the highest point of a moraine ridge. The body of the mark is made of heartwood, with its slanted timbers, and the mark's pattern in the upper part is a rhombus pattern painted red.

History

MUSTASAARI

In the dangerous waters of Valassaaret there was a wooden daymark even before the lighthouse era. As shipping increased in the 1850s, seafarers demanded a lighthouse for the area. The project advanced when five vessels were wrecked on the Valassaaret shoals in 1879. Lattice towers assembled from iron elements were in use in the Baltic countries, and one of these was also ordered for Valassaaret in 1884. The lighthouse was designed by the French firm Henry Lepaute, which a few years later built the Eiffel-torni in Pariisi. To transport the building materials, an embankment road was built between Ebbskär and Storskär. The light of the lighthouse, erected at the new site, was lit on 19.11.1886.

Valassaaret is also linked to the phases of the Finnish War. Russian troops that attacked Uumaja in 1809 were quartered on Valassaaret on their way out and back. Some four hundred dead were left on the islands by the troops, who were tormented by storms and a cold winter. In the 1930s the soldiers' bones were gathered into a mass grave, which was marked by a stone cairn. Valassaaret was also for centuries a relay station for mail carriers travelling between Sweden and Finland. Boats sailed from Valassaaret 17 nautical miles to Holmögadd in Sweden. In winter the mail was carried by horse transport.

The Norrskär lighthouse was built to the plans of the Intendentinkonttori in 1847. The pilot station was completed at the beginning of the 20th century. The lighthouse keepers left Norrskär in the 1980s, after which the interiors of part of the lighthouse keepers' buildings were modernised.

The Ritgrund pilot station came into being in the 19th century. The daymark was built in 1863 and converted into a lighthouse in 1945. The facade materials were renewed in the 1990s.

The Ensten daymark was completed in 1882.

The Yttre Uddskäret pilot station was completed in 1856. The old watch house was built to a standard drawing, and the building type was common in its time. The adjacent watch house was completed in the 1920s and 1930s.

MAALAHTI

On Rönnskär, pilotage maintained by Vaasa burghers already existed before the Pohjanlahti maritime district was established in 1848. The daymark was built in 1784. One of the founders was probably the Vaasa major merchant Abraham Falander, whose name is carved on the central pillar of the pook. According to tradition, the log frame of the pook was hewn and assembled at Raippaluoto and then moved in sections to Rönnskär. The Crown bought the pook and the buildings of the pilot station on the island in 1848, when the maritime district was established, and the Rönnskär pilots became state officials. In 1865 the island had a senior pilot and two pilots, who piloted ships between Vaasa Palosaari and Rönnskär. Pilotage ended in 1976.

Lillsanden was built at the beginning of the 20th century, when the state employed archipelago residents as part-time light keepers and built housing for them near the area of operation. The first unattended lights had been unreliable in operation and had required constant maintenance. The Lillsanden light was completed in 1907, and the light keepers' buildings were completed at the beginning of the 20th century.

The Strömmingsbådan buildings were built to standard drawings. The lighthouse was completed in 1885. At the beginning of the 20th century the old residential building was moved to Rönnskär, and some of the former outbuildings were converted into living quarters.

KORSNÄS

The Svettgrund sea mark was built in 1860. The sea mark has been restored by the Merenkulkulaitos.