Llobregat
The Llobregat lighthouse is located one metre above sea level and within the enlarged Port of Barcelona, in an old area of marshes and crops. Before the diversion of the Llobregat River, caused by the expansion of the port, the lighthouse was located on the left bank of and to the north of its mouth. It is the oldest active modern lighthouse on the Barcelona coast.
Resisting closure
It was turned on for the first time on 1 January 1852 and has the merit of having been fully operational until today, despite the fact that it has always been threatened with closure, either for environmental or administrative reasons.
This lighthouse was the safest point of reference to reach the port because it indicated the sandy lowlands formed at the mouth of the Llobregat river. Initially it was 300 metres from the coastline, but in 1954 the sea had turned it into an isthmus, which endangered its structure due to the erosive retreat of the coast in successive port expansions. Until the last expansion of the port, it was protected by a breakwater. Today it has remained inside the port facilities, although due to its scope it is still used for maritime navigation.
Another threat that jeopardised the future of this lighthouse was a Royal Order of 1903, which provided for its demolition and its replacement by the new lighthouse that was to be built on Montjuïc. The opposition of Barcelona’s shipping agents definitely prevented it in 1928.
A still useful sign
Architecturally, it is a model for many lighthouses that were built during the first phase of the Spanish Coast Lighting Programme. It is made up of a tower with two bodies -the lower one, with a quadrangular section, and the upper one octagonal, on a cylindrical building- and is crowned by a silver dome.
In 1969, a radio beacon was added, which was replaced in 2001 by a differential GPS station that, with a range of 100 miles, corrects the erroneous positions that we can obtain from the GPS.
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