The oldest lighthouse in Vietnam

The lighthouse was designed by French architect Chnavat, completed in 1899 and has a unique, sophisticated octagonal architecture. Ke Ga Lighthouse is recognized by the Vietnam Record Book Center as the tallest lighthouse in the country (65m) with nearly 200 steps, a light range of 22 nautical miles. This is also the oldest lighthouse in Southeast Asia, having existed for more than 100 years. Since its inception, Ke Ga Lighthouse has been an important navigation point in ensuring the safety of ships traveling in the southern sea area.

The special feature in the design of this lighthouse is that not only normal stones with 4 corners were used, but all the granite blocks used to build the lighthouse were carved and engraved into flat rectangular cells. When building, it only needs to be installed in the correct order, from bottom to top and does not need to use much adhesive mortar, but the stone slabs are still tight and durable.

With an age of over 100 years, Ke Ga lighthouse is the oldest lighthouse in Southeast Asia. The Vietnam Book of Records Center also confirmed that this is the tallest lighthouse in Vietnam - Photo: Vietnam Times Magazine

Inside the Ke Ga Cape lighthouse, there are 183 spiral steel steps leading to the top along with dozens of steps leading to the top of the lighthouse, creating a beautiful work of art that no photographer can ignore when admiring.

According to the maritime history of this area, Ke Ga Cape is considered an extremely dangerous location. With many reefs and whirlpools, the Binh Thuan - La Gi sea was once considered a terror for ancient seafarers. Many merchant ships and fishing boats passed through here and sank due to unidentified coordinates and locations. To meet the transportation needs of the French colonial exploitation journey as well as foreign merchant ships passing through here, the French colonial government researched and built the Ke Ga lighthouse. During the construction of the lighthouse, many people died due to construction accidents. Currently, there is still a cemetery here - the resting place of those who died - during the construction of this project.

Considered the “oldest” lighthouse in Vietnam and Southeast Asia, Ke Ga lighthouse is not only a maritime structure serving safer sea travel around Ke Ga Cape but also a massive, unique work of art in the midst of a vast natural “museum”. Hundreds of years have passed, through the flames of war, facing many storms, the ancient lighthouse still stands tall and majestic on the sea, is the “eye of the sea” guiding many sailors through danger, like a flame of faith that exists forever in the hearts of Vietnamese fishermen.

Seen from above, Ke Ga lighthouse has a strong, prominent appearance in the middle of the vast and poetic sea. Under the hands of Mother Nature, the island - where the lighthouse is built - also possesses hundreds of rocky cliffs with rich colors and unique shapes, stacked on top of each other in an extremely spectacular way. The turquoise color of the sea, the yellow color of the granite slabs and the cool green color of the rows of trees on the island create a wild, peaceful and charming natural picture.

Thanh Tra (synthesis)

Source: https://baobinhphuoc.com.vn/news/383/140304/ngon-hai-dang-co-nhat-viet-nam