Poland

During the summer of 2009, American pharologists participated in a picturesque journey to the Polish lighthouses from Krynica Morska to Swinoujscie. The main character of this article unfortunately could not make that trip. It seems that Poland made such an interesting impression on the 2009 trip participants that Tim Blackwood, board member of United States Lighthouse Society, decided to see the country for himself. I received an email from Tim on June 1, 2012.

Summer on the Polish coastline is typically pleasant-plentiful sunshine and clement breezes off the Baltic Sea, with temperatures in the low 70s. Baltic summers are similar to those of my home in the Pacific Northwest, where days are cool, dry, and sunny. But in July 2010 a heat wave gripped Europe. When it reached Germany, Poland, and Russia it stalled for several weeks, driving temperatures into the high 90s. The unseasonable spate of hot days happened to coincide with a U.S. Lighthouse Society tour of Poland's lighthouses.

For centuries lighthouses have stood alongside sea routes, but now they have become monuments to history and technology. One technological mechanism that has become part of history is a time ball. It was affixed to the roof of many lighthouses. A small number of them have survived, for example, at Greenwich (UK), Karlskrona (Sweden), Lyttleton (New Zealand), Norfolk (Virginia, USA) and Singapore. They are are all great tourist attractions.The time ball in Gdansk has joined this select company of magical places.

Considered one of the most beautiful lighthouses of the Baltic Sea (geographical position 54°24'28"N, 18°39'50"E), the lighthouse at Gdansk is a 90-foot-tall structure built in 1893-94 as a twin to the Cleveland, OH Main Lighthouse erected in 1871. How did it come about? It is an enduring mystery.