Sines Lighthouse

The Sines Lighthouse (Farol de Sines) is located at Cabo de Sines, in Sines, in the Setúbal District of Portugal. It is a 22-metre high white cylindrical tower with a red beacon. A detailed plan for additional lighthouses along the Portuguese coast was first developed in 1866 by Francisco Maria Pereira da Silva, Inspector General of Lighthouses and a lighthouse at Sines featured in this plan. The plan was approved in 1870 but construction of the Sines lighthouse was not finally completed until April 1880. The lighthouse consisted of two adjoining buildings and a cylindrical tower; 22 metres high. It was initially equipped with a second-order optical device, with lighting fuelled by oil vapour. In 1915 this was replaced by a rotating third-order Fresnel device with a 500mm focal length, which increased the range to 30 nautical miles and enabled the fixed light to be replaced by a flashing one. In the same year a new lighthouse, also one of those identified by Pereira da Silva, was constructed at Cabo Sardão, about 45 kilometers to the south.