CABO TIÑOSO LIGHTHOUSE
Visitations: Not available
Basis height: 10m
Condition: Operational
This lighthouse is built on the summit of the cape, about 146m above sea level and about 60m below the highest ridge, where the coastal battery was later installed. It is a lighthouse classified as first order, put in service in 1859, being the second light inaugurated on the coast of Cartagena, (La Podadera lighthouse had been the first), and it was provided with oil lamp and fixed light optical device.
The luminous equipment was changed in 1913 by a system of incandescent lighting by pressurized petroleum vapour. Later, a team of rotating screens was incorporated and placed inside the optics.
In 1970, it was automated, incorporating a new flashlight and a new rotating optics, removing the lighthouse keepers and demolishing the old building.
In 1996 the equipment was replaced, modernizing and increasing the facility reliability.
In 1998, this signal was incorporated into the Remote Signal Monitoring System of Maritime Signals.
ARCHITECTURE:
It is formed by a white cylindrical tower (placed above the room of the lighthouse keepers) with the light at 10 m height from its base, which places it at 146m above sea level. In the lighthouse enclosure there is a one-story house.
The place name Tiñoso, refers to the mountainous breakwater with clearings in the bushland.
As an anecdote stands out the temporary suspension of the service during the Spanish Civil War which indicated the convenience of turning off the lighthouse so that it would not serve as a guide to bomb the coastal battery from a boat or plane. At the end of the Spanish Civil War and in order to repair the damage caused by the military force that occupied the dwelling of the lighthouse, a repair project was made for the four occupied lighthouses (Cabo de Palos, Portmán, Cabo Tiñoso and Águilas).