Sapienza Lighthouse
The lighthouse of Sapienza is located in the Oinousses group of islands on the tiny islet of Sapienza, south of Methoni. The islet’s name comes from the phrase “Navigare con sapienze”, which means “Travel with wisdom” due to the sea reefs in the area.
The lighthouse was built in 1885 by English technicians at the request of Queen Victoria, and its lighting began on September 1st of the same year. Originally it ran on oil, with one white flash every minute of the hour. The lighthouse’s mirrors were illuminated with asbestos lamps, and its beam reached 25 nautical miles. In fact, it was classified as a first-class catadioptric and was considered one of the strongest lighthouses in the entire country. The rotation lasted eight whole minutes, and, as the surrounding villages' inhabitants typically said, the women could embroider using its light. During the Second World War, the lighthouse remained off and reopened (as a guard) in 1944 as part of the reconstruction of the lighthouse network.
It is a monument of unique architecture with remarkable typological and morphological characteristics directly connected to the region’s navigation history. Specifically, the tower is stone-built, externally polygonal and internally cylindrical, with a diameter of 3 metres and a height of 9.5 metres. A characteristic element of the building is the irregular stones of its masonry, the carved cornerstones, as well as the elliptical arches of its openings. The tower’s exterior rests on pillars, while its parapet is also stone.
An internal stone staircase of 75 steps leads to the top of the lighthouse, where the mirrors and the small stone balcony are located. In addition to the tower, the building also includes the ground-floor residence of the lighthouse keepers, which consists of two corridors, four bedrooms, a kitchen and a storeroom. Near the house, there is a stone oven, while an underground cistern for saving rainwater stands out in the yard.
The lighthouse of Sapienza has been classified as a newer monument by the Department of Restoration of Newer and Modern Monuments of the Ministry of Culture, while in 1986, the lighthouse was automated and converted into a solar one. In 2010, the Navy Lighthouse Service donated the optical mirror of the old rotary mechanism to the Maritime Museum of Greece, Piraeus. This mirror was manufactured in France by Sauter Lemmonier.
In conclusion, we should mention that access to Sapienza is by boat from the port of Methoni. From the disembarkation point, the visitor follows a passable path leading to the architectural monument, and the hike is about half an hour long.