Leaning Kiipsaare lighthouse – a miniature marine analogue of the Leaning Tower of Pisa (8 photos + 1 video)

In the sea, off the coast of the island of Saaremaa in Estonia, there is a colorful lighthouse, leaning heavily towards the water. When it was built in 1933 from reinforced concrete, it stood on the ground and was located more than 150 meters from the shore.





But since then, the sea has slowly but surely advanced on the shore, gradually eroding the coastline until the waves separated the base from the foundation of the lighthouse. Due to the lack of solid ground, the lighthouse tilted and stands, swallowed by the Baltic Sea, more than 50 meters from the shore.



The 25-meter lighthouse was originally built to warn mariners in the Baltic Sea of ​​dangers near the island and to help with orientation.





But in the early 1990s, the sea had already reached the lighthouse, and it began to tilt. Believing that the structure would soon fall into the sea, people removed the lights. However, it miraculously remained standing despite the obvious tilt. From 1992 to 2009, the lighthouse functioned as a daytime landmark, but is no longer used as a navigation aid.



At one time, the lighthouse was off-line by 15 degrees. But the shifting waves and sand reversed the process that led to the tilt. Now it stands straighter than before.