From Lighthouse to Lighthouse – Between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea

Since the Middle Ages, the shipping route between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea through the Øresund or the Great Belt has been Northern Europe’s most important trade route. To ensure safe navigation, it became necessary early on to build a series of lighthouse stations along this seaway, closely linking Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish lighthouse history.

In the summer of 2024, authors Jo van der Eynden and Per Roger Lauritzen joined the museum ship M/S “Gamle Oksøy” on a voyage through these waters, visiting Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish lighthouses. This book tells the story of the expedition, the history of the individual lighthouses, and, not least, the opportunities available for visiting them today. Several of them will be part of “The European Route of Lighthouses.”

The authors hope the book will be seen as an invitation to dive deeper into the exciting maritime cultural history of the Skagerrak and Kattegat, with lighthouse history as a backdrop and the many lighthouses as fantastic destinations.