The white and red lighthouse on Amrum, called 'großer Amrumer', is the island's landmark visible from afar as well as the highest vantage point in the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park.
Lighthouses are 'outstanding' destinations as symbols of the coastline par excellence, recognizable even at night and in fog, when its beaming fingers dart over sea and heath and pass through the dunes. Built in 1875, North Friesland's oldest lighthouse rises 41.80 meters on a 25-meter-high dune, so that the height of the fire - and the viewing gallery - is 63 meters above sea level.
Who the Amrum lighthouse Parents are also asked to pay one euro for small children: The tower, built to the highest quality standards in the days of the emperor, with its lens apparatus now estimated at 5 million euros, wants to be maintained and cared for. The base is 1.74 m high and 2 m thick. The outer wall is made of solid stone masonry up to 1.72 m thick. The 16 lenses and the five-wick lamp are of such high quality that they had to be renewed only in 1993 - 118 years after the lighthouse was put into operation. It received its current daytime identification, the red and white paint, in 1953.
The lighthouse on the dunes is a good starting point for exploring the Amrum dune chain on the island's Geestkern. Most of the dunes were first blown up in the Middle Ages: the sand buried settlement sites and almost half of the laboriously sown grain fields. As the legend goes, the huge masses of sand rose after the Amrumers, who had converted to the new faith, unwittingly buried a water sprite lying dead on the beach. Only when they dug him up again and returned him to the sea did the sandstorms calm down - but the dunes remained.
In 1696 The fortification of the dunes began with the prohibition of cutting dune stalks. Thanks to the reforestation that took place in the late 19th century, on the paths through the dunes you can often admire pine trees that reach an age of more than 100. This is also a peculiarity of the island of Amrum: here it rushes through the trees like in the Black Forest or the Harz Mountains.
Around the dunes to protect against tread erosion, slatted paths have been laid from the island villages to the viewing dunes and beaches. Interspersed in the forests are numerous areas of heath, which in late summer shine in a violet dream of color like the Lüneburg Heath. Many of the dunes are accessible via panorama platforms; between Nebeler Strand and the seaside resort of Norddorf alone there are five viewing dunes, including Amrum's highest dune 'A Siatler' (32 m, in German 'Setzerdüne'): it offers a unique panoramic view over Norddorf and the Amrum Odde, which is designated as a bird sanctuary, across to the neighboring island of Sylt and over the Wadden Sea to Föhr.
The Amrum lighthouse can be combined on the 'Tanenwai', the forest hiking trail on the dune chain, with the bird berth Meeram and the leading and cross light Norddorf to an exciting hike. At eight meters, the northernmost Amrumer lighthouse is a comparatively small lighthouse, but the height of the fire above mean high tide is 22 meters, as the tower was built in 1905 on a lookout dune. The Art Nouveau elements of the tower contribute to its popularity, as does the magnificent view.
The cross mark fire is located on the Latten dune hiking trail between Kniepsand and Vogelkoje Meeram. The path leads through a wide dune and heath landscape, where the remains of a megalithic grave that has been blown open remind us that people were already living here 4000 years ago. Archaeologists also uncovered the relics of an Iron Age house from 2000 years ago.
The seaside resort fog with old thatched-roof houses and the Romanesque Clemens Church on the Wadden Sea side of the island is the main village of Amrum. After the north and south villages agreed on the location for the construction of a common church in the Middle Ages, the village of Nebel was also established near the Clemens Church, which was built from 1236; the name probably means 'new settlement' (analogous to Niebüll). Worth seeing at the cemetery in Nebel are the 'talking' gravestones, in which the life stories of the deceased are carved.
From Amrum excursion ships regularly sail to the Hallig islands, including Hallig Hooge, the 'Queen of the Hallig Islands'. Protected by a low summer dike, the marshland with ten terps lies between the islands of Pellworm and Amrum and the Halligen Langeneß, Japsand and Norderoogsand. The Hanswarft is the most visited and, at 180 by 200 meters, the largest dwelling mound on Hooge. Here you will find the local history and Hallig museum, the "Man and Mudflats" experience center of the Wadden Sea Protection Station, the restaurant "Zum Seehund" and the information center "Uns Hallig Hus". The 'Königspesel', a Frisian parlor from the 18th century, conveys the living culture of the seafarers with its faiences, and the storm tide cinema shows an impressive short film of a landfall.
Cover photo: A slatted path leads through the Amrum dune landscape to the Quermarkenfeuer lighthouse southwest of Norddorf © picture-alliance / DUMONT Bildarchiv | Sabine Lubenow
