Madras Lighthouse, Mylapore, Chennai

Madras Lighthouse, Mylapore, Chennai

The Madras Light House is a lighthouse facing the Bay of Bengal on the east coast of the Indian Subcontinent. It is in Mylapore in Chennai City of Tamilnadu. It is a famous landmark on the Marina Beach in Chennai, India. It was built by the East Coast Constructions and Industries in 1976 replacing the old lighthouse in the northern direction. The lighthouse was opened in January 1977. It also houses the meteorological department and was restricted to visitors. On 16 November 2013, it was reopened to visitors. It is one of the few lighthouses in the world with an elevator. 

It is also the only lighthouse in India within the city limits. It is also a green lighthouse, with a solar panel for power. The Chennai Lighthouse is an unmistakable city landmark on Marina Beach. You can clearly spot it punctuating the skyline close to the seashore. The lighthouse soars to a height of 46 meters (161 feet) and the light source is at a height of 57 meters. During the 2004 tsunami, when Marina Beach was devastated, the base of the lighthouse tower was damaged.

History

For brief details, please refer below link;

http://tamilnadu-favtourism.blogspot.com/2017/12/madras-lighthouse-mylapore-history.html

The Chennai Lighthouse District

The Chennai Lighthouse, along with 23 other lighthouses along the eastern, southern and western coast of the Indian peninsula, comes under the administration of the Chennai Lighthouse District. In accord with the Lighthouse Act of 1927 and the Lighthouse (Amendment) Act of 1985, the Chennai Lighthouse District comprises under its jurisdiction part of Kerala State which is south of latitude 9º00'N and state of Tamil Nadu, which is south of latitude 13º00'N and west of longitude 80º30'E and the union territory of Puducherry, which include the following lighthouses:

1. Alleppey
2. Kovil Thottam
3. Tangasseri Point (Quilon)
4. Anjengo
5. Vilinjam
6. Muttam Point
7. Kanyakumari (Cape Comorin)
8. Manappad Point
9. Pandiyan Tivu DGPS
10. Kilakkarai
11. Point Calimere
12. Kodikkarai
13. Ammpattinam DGPS
14. Pasipattinam
15. Rameswaram
16. Pamban
17. Nagapattinam DGPS
18. Karaikal
19. Porto Novo
20. Cuddalore Channel Buoyage
21. Pondicherry Lighthouse and DGPS
22. Mahabalipuram
23. Madras (Chennai)
24. Pulicat DGPS

The director general at the Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships located at Noida has under him or her four deputy director generals, namely, Jamnagar, Chennai, Kolkata and the headquarters. For administrative control, the entire coastline has been divided into seven districts having their regional headquarters at Jamnagar, Mumbai, Cochin, Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Kolkata and Port Blair. The Chennai Lighthouse District is administrated under the Regional Director (Chennai), who along with the Regional Director (Cochin) comes under the deputy director general (Chennai). The Regional Office at Chennai provides information on the geographical region between Alleppey Lighthouse to Pulicat Lighthouse. The union government is planning to build three new lighthouses in the Chennai Lighthouse District at an estimated cost of Rs 25 million each.

The Towers

The Entrance Channel Tower:

Located north of the port, the entrance channel tower is about 24 metres (79 ft) high with a focal plane of 26 metres (85 ft), flashing white, red and green lights, and the tower is visible only from a distance closer to the entrance channel. This tower was assigned an Admiralty number of F0938 and NGA number of 27074. This tower is still active.

The First Tower (1796–1844):

The first light at Madras is a lantern on the wall of the Fort St. George. With the growth of commercial activities of the English East India Company, the company built a lighthouse at the Fort in 1796. Functioning from the roof of the Officer's Mess, now housing the Fort Museum, it comprised a lantern with large oil-fed wicks. The light has been inactive since 1844.

The Second Tower (1844–1894):

The second lighthouse was a tall granite Doric column erected in 1841 and is located within the compound of the Madras High Court to the north of Fort St. George. Work began in 1838 and completed in 1843 at a cost of Rs 75,000, and the lighthouse started functioning on 1 January 1844. This round fluted stone tower with gallery is 38 metres (125 ft) tall. Built on a base of 55-feet breadth, its column rises 84 feet with a tapering diameter—16 feet at the base and 11 feet at the top.

The entire structure from base to tip has a height of 125 feet. The light was at 117 feet and was visible 20 miles into the sea. Illumination was by 15 "argand lamps with parabolic reflectors, arranged in three tiers." Unlike the earlier rotary model, it had a reciprocal type of light, with the ratio of bright-to-dark periods being 2:3 and with each unit of time being 24 seconds.

This tower was assigned an ARLHS number of IND-027. Given the inability of brick to withstand saline breeze of the sea, the surface of the tower was built with granite procured from quarries at Pallavaram. However, following the construction of the taller High Court building in 1892, mariners started having difficulty in identifying the tower during daytime. The tower became inactive since 1894 after the lighthouse was moved atop the dome of the main tower of the new High Court building.

The Third Tower (1894–1977):

The lantern from the second tower was moved to one of the tallest ornate towers of the Madras High Court building, which was constructed adjacent to the second tower in 1892. The lighthouse started functioning from 1 June 1894. According to I. C. R. Prasad's book Madras Lighthouse, the lantern room was erected on the gilded dome, with a cutting in the dome and the spiral staircase serving as entry to the top. The lighthouse used kerosene vapour lamps. The revolving light was supplied by Chance Brothers from Birmingham. The capillary lamp of this light was capable of producing 18,000 candelas power. It was assigned an ARLHS number of IND-026. This tower became inactive since 1977, after guiding British and Allied warships of both the world wars.

The Fourth Tower (1977 – present):

The present lighthouse is a triangular cylindrical, red-and-white-banded, concrete one with lantern and double gallery and is 11 stories high. The tower is attached to a three-story circular harbour-control building. The total height of the tower is 45.72 metres (150.0 ft) with the light source standing at a height of 57 metres (187 ft) from the mean sea level. The source consists of 440V 50 Hz main supply (with standby Genset), with a range of 28 nautical miles. It is functional since 10 January 1977. The base of the present lighthouse tower was damaged by the waves from the Indian Ocean tsunami of 26 December 2004, but there were no reported casualties. Chennai Lighthouse has the distinction of being one of the few lighthouses with an elevator facility in the world. The lighthouse is 11 stories high and is the only one in India with an elevator.

Security

The ninth floor of the tower has a viewing gallery where steel welded mesh panels have been erected for safety. This has been done to avoid suicide attempts, which were witnessed in the past. The tenth floor has a high-security radar installed and is not open to public. The elevator in the lighthouse will take the visitors directly to the viewing gallery on the ninth floor, and visitors will not be given access to any other floors. The lighthouse was open to the public until the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, following which it was shut down over fears that it would be the target of an attack. It was re-opened for visitors on 14 November 2013.

Developments

Chennai Lighthouse is one of the 13 lighthouses in India that are identified as heritage centers to portray maritime history of India. A lighthouse museum has been planned at a cost of Rs 50 million. The union shipping ministry is planning to build museums, rooms, cafeteria, souvenir shop, viewers gallery, 4D cinema hall, gaming zone and aquarium at the Chennai lighthouse. The heritage museum will showcase the history of marine navigation, where oil-bearing large wicks, kerosene lights, petroleum vapour, and electrical lamps used in the past will be on display.

Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships has planned the remote control and automation of lighthouses in Cochin, Chennai, Vishakhapatnam and Kolkata directorates at a cost of Rs 304.5 million. As a first step towards automation of lighthouses, Radone, an equipment that can detect radar signals from ships and helps captains identify the location, has been installed on most lighthouses. The automation of lighthouses in the Chennai Lighthouse District is estimated to cost about Rs 50 million during the 11th Five-Year Plan. The 22 lighthouses in the Chennai Lighthouse district will be monitored and controlled from conveniently located positions termed as Remote Control Stations (RCSs). These RCSs will be ultimately linked to Master Control Station, proposed to be located at Chennai for effective control.

Entry Timings

·        Mon-Sun: 10:00 AM - 10:00 PM

Fees Structure

·        Rs.10 per head for adult 

·        Rs.5 per head for children, 

·        Rs.25 for Camera,

·        Rs.5 for museum.

Contact

Madras Lighthouse,

Mylapore,

Chennai – 600 004

Phone: +91 44 24985598

Connectivity

For brief details, please refer below link;

http://tamilnadu-favtourism.blogspot.com/2017/12/madras-lighthouse-mylapore-connectivity.html

Location