Skomvær Lighthouse has nine floors, is 31.7 metres high, is made of cast iron and is built on a stone foundation. Lighthouses in the outer fairway in North Norway were, before the end of the 1800's, far apart. Sea traffic was, however, heavy here due to timber trading from Arkhangelsk. There was also sea traffic in the fairway to and from Tromsø, Hammerfest, Vardø and Vadsø. Skomvær lighthouse, which was first looked into by the lighthouse commission as early as 1855 and was planned in more detail in 1878, was therefore finally completed in 1887. 

The lighthouse crew on Skomvær included a lighthouse keeper and two assistants and their families. Two concrete houses were built, one for the lighthouse keeper and a semi-detached house for the assistants. The lighthouse keeper also had an outhouse with animal stable, the two assistants sharing another.

The Norwegian Coastal Administration owns the lighthouse station, which is protected under The Cultural Heritage Act. Significant restoration was carried out in 2009–2014, the lighthouse station today having regained a great deal of its original appearance.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skomvær_Lighthouse

Kittelsen on Skomvær

The artist Theodor Kittelsen has also helped make the lighthouse well-known. Kittelsen lived on Skomvær for quite a long period of time, coming here because a relative was a lighthouse assistant. 

“We are here on the very outermost of the outermost islands, far out to sea. Sk­omvær is around 20 km south of Røst, the outermost island in the Lofoton island chain. The only people who live here are lighthouse keepers and their families.

The sea is fickle and harsh here, and can for months prevent all contact with the outside world.

The island is not big and is covered by peat and thin, wiry grass. Around the edge of the island are gaping, wild, craggy fissures and cracks, where European otters and cormorant reside, the cormorant swarming in the evenings in large flocks.

Røst residents think, even so, that Skomvær is the most wonderful place on the islands. Beautiful and green, they say.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_Kittelsen


Sources:
Lindesnes Lighthouse Museum / kystreise.no and www.nfk.no/fylkesleksikon (Sources of Kittelsen quotes not stated.)

Illustrations

1. Blue elf / Wikimedia Commons CC 3.0
2. Danckert Monrad-Krohn, Riksantikvaren Creative Commons 2.5
3. From the time Skomvær was inhabited and the lighthouse was manned. Note the garden outside one of the houses. Dalsfjord fyrmuseum, Nfk/fylkesleksikon
4. Skomvær fyr 1891 av Theodor Kittelsen / Fourandsixty CC-PD Mark
5. Theodor Kittelsen / Fourandsixty CC-PD Mark
6. Anders Beer Wilse / Frankemann CC-BY-2.5

Translation to English: Alasdair Graham-Brown