Victory Lighthouse

Iron terrace
Victory
Lighthouse
Lantern
National monument
Winged Victory
Copper dome
Second ring terrace
Tower
Unknown seaman
First ring terrace
The Anchor of the Audace
Large base
Slab
Inscription
Monumental staircase
Overall height
67.85
116
Height of the focal plane from the sea
8.60
Height of the statue of the Seaman
7.20
Height of the winged Victory
1,250,000
Light type average distance
35
Average range
meters
meters
meters
meters
candles
miles
Information
Province of Trieste
Cultural services and
enhancement of the territory
Monday - Friday, 9 am - 1 pm,
Find us
Visiting hours
tel. 040 3798500
Strada del Friuli, 141 Saturday and Sunday 3 pm - 7 pm [email protected]
Free entry
Last entry 6.30 pm
www.provincia.trieste.it
Victory Lighthouse in 1930
The National Monument of the Victory Lighthouse, opened in 1927 as a
memory of the First World War.
It was raised as a monument in the post-war period and designed by the
architect Arduino Berlam, to celebrate the passage of the city of Trieste to
the Kingdom of Italy, and to commemorate those who died at sea during
the First World War.
Works lasted four years, from 1923 to 1927, with the inauguration of King
Vittorio Emanuele III, highlighting the symbolic value of the monument.
The anchor of the Audace
The anchor of the destroyer “Audace” is then assigned to the
Lighthouse by the then Minister of the Navy, Admiral Paolo Thaon
Revel, who requested to append a bronze plaque with the inscription
Made before any legend by the waters of the redeemed gem, on
November 3, 1918. The Audace landed on 3 November 1918 late
in the afternoon at the San Carlo pier in Trieste and was henceforth
also named Audace. It is the symbol of Italy’s first flag salute to the
city. When the Lighthouse was reopened in 2014, the monument
was restored by the Rotary Club of Trieste and Tripmare.
The Austrian Fort Kressich
The Lighthouse is located on the foundation of the Austrian Fort
Kressich, one of the most important stations of the Empire thanks
to its long range and artillery. The monument is a masterpiece of
military architecture, completed in 1854 with the project designed by
the Lieutenant Colonel Carl Moering. Equipped with a drawbridge and
double-door, the fort conceals a series of tunnels and underground
passages. The sections currently not open to visitors, are an integral
part of the Lighthouse which has also built a tower in the base of the
original structure.
The memorial dedication
The bottom of the structure is covered by stone from Carso testifying the inscription “MCMXXVII Splendi e ricorda i Caduti sul mare
MCMXV – MCMXVIII” (1927 Shine and remind of the fallen on sea
1915-1918).
The idea to include the inscription took shape from the architect
Arduino Berlam who wanted to celebrate the fallen of the first World
War. The bottom of the structure is covered by stone from Carso
(specifically from Gabrie) in the Gorizia Karst, which witnessed
various conflicts in 1917 during the rout of Caporetto.
The Winged Victory
The statue represents a woman’s image, the goddess Nike, who
raises a torch with her left hand while her right holds a laurel wreath.
The works by sculptor Giovanni Mayer, made of embossed copper is
supported by a steel tube in which the tower is inserted. Resistant to
weathering and in particular to the strong gusts of bora (a north-east
wind), with some openings in the wings to minimize wind resistance,
while the central rod is coated by spiral metallic elements for more
flexibility. The monument is topped with a crown concealing the
safety device from lightning.
Viribus Unitis artefacts
Admiral Paolo Thaon Revel donated other symbolic artefacts to the
monument of the Lighthouse: the anchor chain and two
ammunitions of the Austro-Hungarian battleship “Viribus Unitis,”
two 305 mm projectiles, sunk into the Pola base in 1918 by Raffaele
Paolucci and Raffaele Rossetti with a self-propelled underwater
conceived by them.
The fleet’s imperial flagship chain now surrounds the flowerbed at
the base of the lighthouse’s monumental staircase. The two
munitions are positioned in front of the access to the tower.
The unknown Seaman
John Meyer also designed the imposing sculpture located at the
base of the column and was helped by the master stonemason
Regolo Salandini.
The statue is eight meters and 60 centimeters high depicting the
image of a fierce sailor wearing a typical Royal Navy rain hat known
as the “South-west” and knee-high work boots. Over a hundred tons
of large blocks of stone from the quarries of Gabria and Vrsar were
used for its construction.
Some traces of the fasces on the sides of the blocks remain.
Trieste in 1914 and 1915
2,000 workers from a Technical plant of Trieste were involved in the
construction of the “Viribus Unitis” for two years. It was inaugurated in
1911 by Franz Ferdinand of Habsburg.
In June 1914, the Archduke travelled from Trieste to Ragusa/Dubrovnik to visit Sarajevo in the Viribus, and was attacked; this triggered the war. His remains and those of his wife Sofia were transported
by the “Viribus” to Trieste and then to Vienna.
In 1915 Italy enters the war.