Shabla lighthouse, the oldest and tallest lighthouse on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, opened its doors to visitors

The Shabla lighthouse, which is the oldest and tallest lighthouse on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, opened its doors to visitors on August 18 on the occasion of the International Lighthouse Day.

Located on Cape Shabla, our northernmost Bulgarian lighthouse is an emblem of the entire region. It is the oldest on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast and has the tallest tower - 32 metres.

The lighthouse is built as a scaled down version of the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Every lighthouse in the world emits a different light signal. The one on Shabla has two short flashes and one long flash. A 15-second pause follows. The light is visible 17 miles out to sea.

In addition to protecting ships from impact and sinking, the lighthouse's own light orients ship crews to which country they are in.

According to historians, Shabla Lighthouse was built in 1768, but was officially opened in 1857. But there is evidence that it is even older.

"Two of our researchers have found a record in the Istanbul archives that proves that the lighthouse is 400 years old, not 200 as we think and as it has been written so far... This is probably the oldest lighthouse in the Balkans," said Dimcho Dimitrov, the lighthouse keeper of Shabla Lighthouse.

The symbol of the Bulgarian statehood - the lion, carved on the facade of the building, has been preserved all these years, and а time capsule is embedded in the foundations of the tower, with a message to the future generations, which will be opened when the next century of the Shabla Lighthouse is celebrated.