Långe Jan Lighthouse, Mörbylånga, Öland, Sweden

Långe Jan ("Tall John") is a Swedish lighthouse located at the south cape of Öland. It is one of Sweden's most famous lighthouses and also the tallest lighthouse in Sweden. The lighthouse was built in 1785, probably by Russian prisoner of wars. The tower was built by stone from an old chapel. Originally the light was an open fire, and the tower was unpainted. It was painted white in 1845, and the same year the tower's lantern was installed, to store a colza oil lamp. A couple of years later a black band was added to the tower.

The lighthouse remains in use and is remote-controlled by the Swedish Maritime Administration in Norrköping. During the summer-season it is possible to climb the tower, for a small fee. The buildings surrounding the tower is Ottenby birding station.

References:

Wikipedia

The Age of Enlightenment (Sweden)

User Reviews

Sarah Ruth Schmidt Gradén (11 months ago)
There's a big lighthouse (biggest in Sweden) and a restaurant. Given, we were here in the off season, but it doesn't seem there's much else any other time of year. But, apparently, if you're into bird watching this is the place. There were so many cameras on tripods standing outside the cafe that it was clear that's whatnot people were there for.

Shahriar Munir (12 months ago)
Must visit place.

Patrik Wallner (14 months ago)
During covid-19 they only allow 15 persons per hour to go up. If you plan you can book a time and go eat lunch while waiting. Amazing road leading up to the place, be prepared for cows and sheep on the road.

Sebastian Barrientos Klepec (14 months ago)
Way more than I expected!

tinto babu (14 months ago)
Really great place for bird lovers and possibility of seeing seals. Highly recommend to have binocular. But it is really long queue to enter the light house.

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Broch of Gurness

The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it. It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.

The remains of the central tower are up to 3.6 metres high, and the stone walls are up to 4.1 metres thick. The tower was likely inhabited by the principal family or clan of the area but also served as a last resort for the village in case of an attack.

The broch continued to be inhabited while it began to collapse and the original structures were altered. The cistern was filled in and the interior was repartitioned. The ruin visible today reflects this secondary phase of the broch's use.

The site is surrounded by three ditches cut out of the rock with stone ramparts, encircling an area of around 45 metres diameter. The remains of numerous small stone dwellings with small yards and sheds can be found between the inner ditch and the tower. These were built after the tower, but were a part of the settlement's initial conception. A 'main street' connects the outer entrance to the broch. The settlement is the best-preserved of all broch villages.

Pieces of a Roman amphora dating to before 60 AD were found here, lending weight to the record that a 'King of Orkney' submitted to Emperor Claudius at Colchester in 43 AD.

At some point after 100 AD the broch was abandoned and the ditches filled in. It is thought that settlement at the broch continued into the 5th century AD, the period known as Pictish times. By that time the broch was not used anymore and some of its stones were reused to build smaller dwellings on top of the earlier buildings. Until about the 8th century, the site was just a single farmstead.

In the 9th century, a Norse woman was buried at the site in a stone-lined grave with two bronze brooches and a sickle and knife made from iron. Other finds suggest that Norse men were buried here too.

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