Tower of Hercules: Spain

Tower of Hercules: Spain

Tower of Hercules: Spain

The Tower of Hercules is an ancient Roman lighthouse on a peninsula about 2.4 kilometers (1.5 miles) from the centre of A Coruña, Galicia, in north-western Spain. The name Corunna is said to be derived from the ancient column. The structure is 55 meters (180 ft) tall and overlooks the North Atlantic coast of Spain. It is almost 1900 years old, was rehabilitated in 1791, and is the oldest Roman lighthouse still used as a lighthouse.

The Tower of Hercules has served as a lighthouse and landmark at the entrance of La Coruña harbor in north-western Spain since the late 1st century A.D. when the Romans built the Farum Brigantium. The Tower, built on a 57 metre high rock, rises a further 55 metres, of which 34 metres correspond to the Roman masonry and 21 meters to the restoration directed by architect Eustaquio Giannini in the 18^th century, who augmented the Roman core with two octagonal forms. Immediately adjacent to the base of the Tower, is a small rectangular Roman building. The site also features a sculpture park, the Monte dos Bicos rock carvings from the Iron Age and a Muslim cemetery. The Roman foundations of the building were revealed in excavations conducted in the 1990s. Many legends from the middle Ages to the 19th century surround the Tower of Hercules, which is unique as it is the only lighthouse of Greco-Roman antiquity to have retained a measure of structural integrity and functional continuity.

History:

In 61 BCE a Roman seaborne expedition, probably led by Julius Caesar himself, landed at present-day La Coruña (Brigantium) with the intention of installing a port and commercial settlement. There had already been Roman colonisation along the Mediterranean facade of the Iberian Peninsula and along the south and south-west from the 2nd century BCE. The port of Brigantium played an important role during the Cantabrian Wars (29-19 BCE). Once peace was restored, its strategic maritime role at the entrance to the Bay of Biscay, as well as that of a trading station, was confirmed. It became a rear base for the conquest of the British Isles while Galicia was being romanised.

Under the name of Farum Brigantium, the Tower was probably erected in the 1st century CE, at the latest in the reign of Trajan (98-117). The votive inscription on a small ancillary construction would appear to bear this out.

This monumental lighthouse is located at the entrance to La Coruña harbor, in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. It is designed to facilitate navigation along the rugged Galicia coastline, on a strategic point on the sea route linking the Mediterranean to northwest Europe.

A wood-fired system was located on the summit platform in a shelter opening on to the seaward facade; it possibly had columns used for navigational alignment when making the difficult approach and entry into the harbor.

On the basis of the surviving structure, the original tower had a horizontal cross-section measuring 11.75m (33 Roman feet) square. It was surrounded by a spiral ramp providing access to the platform. The base of the Tower rested on 18m square foundations.

The Tower's use as an illuminated lighthouse probably persisted for a relatively long time throughout the Roman Empire. It seems not to have been lit throughout most of the High Middle Ages, although it remained intact and continued to play a role as a landmark and watchtower. The gazetteer lists the names of farum and faro in the 9th and 10th centuries, probably with periods of return to nocturnal service depending on the historical context and the state of maritime navigation. It is difficult to determine exactly the Tower's use and upkeep in medieval times. It seems to have been abandoned and in poor condition after the Viking invasions (854-56), as was the city; it is, however, referred to in two 10th century texts as the Farum Precantium.

Medieval chronicles mention the creation of a fort and a small town in the 11th-12th centuries, in this same position. The Tower is referred to as the Castellum Pharum; at this time it was used for defensive purposes and as an observation post, which most likely saved it from probable ruin. The urban and port development of Burgo de Faro Novo, later Crunia, started at the end of the 12th century and into the following century, in connection with the reign of Ferdinand II and the Pilgrimage of Santiago de Compostela. The contemporary toponymy shows that the name then given to the Tower was Turrin de Faro suggesting its restoration as a lighthouse, but the external ramp appears to have been in ruins, perhaps as a result of the Tower's use for defensive purposes in the preceding centuries. The reuse of dressed stone from the collapsed parts of the Tower is reported during the late middle Ages, until a 1557 municipal edict forbade this practice.