We’d venture to say that few Lisboners know the Bugio Lighthouse as well as they’d like. For example, have you visited it yet?
Tucked away from most people, anyone looking out at the Tagus horizon can easily spot it, standing there alone, “monitoring” who enters and who leaves the city by sea.
In the following paragraphs , you’ll get to know this symbol of Lisbon a little better— its history and what condition it’s in today.
Strategic coastal defense
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This lighthouse owes its name to the fact that it is located at the Fort of São Lourenço do Bugio, at the mouth of the Tagus River, which is also known as the Fort of São Lourenço da Cabeça Seca or the Tower of Bugio.
It was built here as part of the strategy to defend the Portuguese coastline in general and the port of Lisbon in particular; this was in the 16th century, around 1590.
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The various attacks by French and Turkish pirates in 1552 and 1556 only further highlighted the need to strengthen defenses in our territory, and the expansion of the São Julião da Barra Fort took place in 1556 and 1559.
First João Vicenzo Casale, from Naples, and then Leonardo Turriano, also of Italian origin, began construction on the Fort of São Lourenço da Cabeça Seca in 1643, with the work assumed to have been completed in 1657 or shortly thereafter.
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The main purpose of this fort was to defend the coastline, so it was equipped with 14 24-pounder cannons, 12 12-pounder cannons, and one 6-pounder cannon, all made of bronze.
Where the Bugio Lighthouse stands today, the Bugio Tower once stood tall , serving as a lookout during the day and a lighthouse at night.
According to information from the National Maritime Authority,
The lighthouse structure consisted of a circular stone lantern with vertical, glazed openings through which the faint light produced by lamps fueled by olive oil or animal fat filtered. The lantern was topped by a bell-shaped stone dome through which the smoke from the lamps escaped.
The Lighthouse and the Earthquake
The 1755 Lisbon earthquake had a major impact on the fort. The tower was destroyed and was not rebuilt and restored to operation until 1775, 20 years later.
The Bugio Lighthouse was one of six lighthouses commissioned by the Marquis of Pombal.
The History of the Bugio Lighthouse
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We already know its origins. But in the following lines , you’ll learn more about its history, the history of the lighthouse itself, and its current condition.
In 1751, the Bugio Lighthouse operated using olive oil, a method of lighting that was later replaced by gas and, in 1946, by kerosene.
In July 1957, the Fort and the Tower of São Lourenço were classified as a property of public interest, in recognition of their historical and cultural value.
From that date on, there were many significant improvements to the site, notably the electrification of the lighthouse in 1959, when generators equipped with a 500W/110V lamp were installed.
A year later, in 1960, a new audible signal, the nautophone, came into operation.
No lighthouse keeper since 1982
Around 1890, the fort was inhabited by a garrison of men whose job was to maintain the lighthouse.
There were six men, lighthouse keepers, who lived at Bugio year-round, some of them accompanied by their families.
Their isolation on this artificial “island” was only broken when they had to go ashore to buy supplies.
It is also said that around the early 20th century, the lighthousekeepers’ isolation was eased by silting in the southern part of the Tagus estuary, with reports of pilgrimages from the villages along the river to the fort’s chapel.
Starting in the 1960s, there were more lighthouse keepers, and a rotation system was introduced with two teams of three members who worked four-day shifts, whenever sea conditions permitted.
More than 20 years later, in 1981, the optical apparatus was replaced by an automatic mechanism that allowed it to rotate; a remote signaling system and a fog detector were also installed .
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It was from this point on that the Bugio Lighthouse began to be controlled remotely from the Lighthouse Directorate’s Central Office.
Following this automation and the implementation of the remote control system, in 1982 the Bugio Lighthouse no longer required a lighthouse keeper.
A more modern lighthouse
@flyingbydaniel
The next major changes at the Bugio Lighthouse would not occur until 1994, when a new solar-powered optical lantern was installed .
But it wasonly between 1997 and 2001, under the auspices of the Directorate-General for National Buildings and Monuments, that construction work took place to strengthen the site, including reinforcing the fort’s foundations, restoring the stonework, masonry, and walls, and building a sturdy circular breakwater and a new dock. Is it possible to visit?
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On the National Maritime Authority’s website, where we gathered much of this information, you can see that this is one of the few lighthouses in Portugal that is not open to the public.
We were told, however, that the Oeiras Cultural Association Espaço e Memória would organize occasional visits to this site throughout the year.
However, we were unable to contact the association to learn more details about how to schedule one of these visits.
