| Since the end of World War II in 1945, the coast of Poland has stretched from Swinoujscie in the west to the Gulf of Gdansk in the east. Poland has at least 26 lighthouses on its Baltic coast and also many lighthouses on the inland waterway that extends from Swinoujscie to Szczecin. This page includes the lighthouses of the Baltic coast east of Swinoujscie. Lights of the Swinoujscie area and the Szczecin waterway are listed on the Poland: Swinoujscie and the Odra page. All of the Polish coastline was under German control from the 18th century through the end of World War I in 1918. Poland became independent of Germany and Russia as a result of World War I, but between the two world wars its coastline was only a narrow "corridor" at Gdynia. As a result, all of the pre-1945 lighthouses except the three Gdynia lights are of German construction. The historical German names for these lighthouses are shown in curly braces {}. At least four lighthouses were destroyed during World War II, and many of the others suffered severe damage. Since Poland escaped the Soviet orbit in 1991, the country has made great progress in lighthouse preservation. The historic lighthouses have been restored where needed, and they seem to be in good shape. Many of them are open to the public, although the schedules may be irregular in some cases. Active Polish lighthouses are operated by the regional Maritime Office (Urzad Morski). There are three of these offices, in Szczecin, Slupsk, and Gdynia. In Polish, a lighthouse is a "sea lantern," latarnia morska, plural latarnie morskie. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Light List numbers are from volume C of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 116. What's Hot:
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Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
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Posted April 18, 2005. Checked and revised May 2, 2008. Lighthouses: 29. Site copyright 2008 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.