Heritage network for Lighthouses and maritime communication lines

Travel and communication, in one way or another, have through time played a dominating part in the coastal culture; both within local communities and on a broader scale, between countries and regions.

The sea has been the ‘main road’ along the North Sea shoreline from the Bronze Age to modern times. Exchange and interaction within the North Sea areas go way back in time.

The Norwegian NAVE Nortrail consortium has taken the North Sea Coastal Lighthouses into focus when creating a heritage network.

Today the lighthouses are the most well-known and visible memories of travel and communication in coastal areas. They are situated all the way along the coasts, and today they stand out as ”sculptures in landscape”. In Norway they have even been called coastal “stave-churches”.

In Norway soon all lighthouses will be run fully automatically, and there will no longer be people at the stations. ”Kystverket” (Norwegian Directorate of Coastal affairs) is the owner of the lighthouses and are now in a phase where they establish agreements with different organisations and institutions for the purpose of hiring lighthouses.

Within the NAVE Nortrail heritage network ”Lighthouses and maritime communication lines” we wish to focus on new uses for lighthouse buildings. Important questions might be; how can these challenges be met?