The Gdańsk Lighthouse and Time Ball 1894
One of the most beautiful lighthouses of the Baltic Sea (geographical position 54°24'28''N, 18°39'50''E) this 90-feet-tall structure built in 1893 is the twin of the Cleveland, Ohio, Main Lighthouse (today no longer standing).
Situated at the entrance of the harbour of Gdańsk, the Nowy Port Lighthouse combined three distinct functions: that of a coastal lighthouse, a harbour pilots tower, and a time ball station. Like in Greenwich, England, the time ball, which measured 5 feet in diameter and weighed 150 pounds, was dropped at noon every day to give a precise time signal to the captains of the ships lying at anchor in the Bay of Gdańsk, to allow them to adjust their chronometers.
To be able to see the time ball on the Nowy Port Lighthouse again was the dream of many in Gdansk, which came true in 2008, when the time ball was restored and now drops every day at noon and then 2, 4 and 6 pm, with the accuracy of 1 second cumulative error in 200 000 years!
The Gdańsk Nowy Port Lighthouse entered world history on September 1, 1939, when at 4:45 a.m. of that day the German army opened fire from its embrasures (and from the battleship Schleswig-Holstein moored nearby) on the Polish army outpost of Westerplatte, across the Vistula River, starting World War II.
Decommissioned in 1984, the Gdańsk Nowy Port Lighthouse, the Grand Old Dame of Gdańsk, opened its doors again in 2004 - this time as a historical monument, to offer its visitors a chance to admire its unique architecture and an unsurpassed view of the Gdańsk harbour, Westerplatte, and the whole Bay of Gdańsk, including the Hel Peninsula. A visit not to be missed !