Lighthouses - self-adhesive - Germany / Federal Republic of Germany 2008 - 550 Euro Cent

At the mouths of the Elbe, Weser, Ems and Jade, on the North and Baltic Sea coast of Schleswig-Holstein, on the North Frisian and the East Frisian Islands and on the coast of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, there are about 200 lighthouse buildings. There are towers of tremendous luminous intensity, the signals of which radiate more than 50 kilometers into the night, but also small steel pylons of more local significance. They all ensure the navigation on the coast. The special postage stamp series "Lighthouses" wants to draw attention to the variety of German beacons. The lighthouse Hörnum stands on a 16 meter high dune in the south of the island Sylt. 100 years ago, on August 8, 1907, the beacon on the headland »Hörnum Odde« was detonated. Using a 250-watt lamp, the lake fire is still in operation today. Since the automation in 1968, the beacon works without the intervention of a lighthouse keeper. The lighthouse is - like all fires on the west coast of Schleswig-Holstein - monitored by the telecontrol center in Tönning. Between 1914 and 1933, a room in the 34-meter-high steel tower housed Germany's smallest school, which taught two to five pupils. Those who climb the tower today can not only enjoy the view over Sylt and the North Sea, but also get to know the history of the lighthouse: an exhibition has been set up in the stairwell. Recently, even newlyweds in a specially decorated room of the tower can close the knot for life.