Versão portuguesa aqui.

GPS 38.72765082347019, -9.227159557672124

The Mama Lighthouse , branded by Mama or Mama Sul, is a Portuguese lighthouse (which is also a geodesic landmark), which is built on an elevation of 145 meters in the Serra de Carnaxide, municipality of Oeiras, district of Lisbon, about 4 km NE (northeast) of Farol do Esteiro.

The lighthouse consists of a white monument with three feet, with the lantern installed on a platform 10 meters high.

The navigability and safety conditions offered by the Tagus estuary have always favored human presence in the area. The oldest traces of this presence date back to prehistory. Historians believe that the Phoenicians, in the century. XII BC, recognized the merits of Lisbon's location and established a commercial port on the North Bank of the Tagus River. The strategic importance of Lisbon did not escape the knowledge of other nations of sailors and explorers, which in 205 BC, would have motivated the conquest of the city by the Romans and its baptism as Olissipo, which received the epithet of “Felicitas Lulia”. With the fall of the Roman Empire, the Suevi and the Visigoths followed who had controlled the city since 472 AD. The Moors took Lisbon – Asch-Bonnah – in 714 AD. and developed the port through their Mediterranean and Atlantic trading activities. In the century XI the process of internal reorganization of Europe takes on a new direction and, with the development of the crusades, traffic and maritime trade suffered considerable increases. D. Afonso Henriques, realizing the strategic importance of the city of Lisbon in the international context, directed his expansion movements towards the south, with a view to establishing a zone of Portuguese influence along the coast, managing to guarantee the support of the crusades for the conquest from the city of Lisbon, fundamental for dominating the Tagus estuary, a large natural port that would greatly improve the importance of the territory in this European context. Thus, on June 28, 1147, a fleet of 164 ships entered the Tagus carrying an army of 13,000 crusaders. Having played a fundamental role in the conquest of the city of Lisbon from the Moors and, later, in the defense of the nationality, the port is closely linked to the city that was born and prospered with it. At the beginning of the century In the 13th century, navigation methods evolved a lot, with the use of the compass as a navigation aid and the introduction of the rudder, bringing more stability and maneuverability to the vessels. Larger ships with greater cargo capacity are built.

When they appear, in the first quarter of the century. XIII, the first regular lines from the Mediterranean to England and Northern Europe, through the Strait of Gibraltar, Lisbon is a mandatory stopover for all ships in transit along the Portuguese coast. Benefiting from an enviable geographic situation, the port of Lisbon will easily be inserted in the international maritime routes.

Seafarers and fishermen from Lisbon to Cascais became familiar with the Tagus and its mouth from an early age. The wisest and most experienced among them, the so-called "river practitioners", learned, in their daily work, through continuous observation, the natural laws that governed the cycle of the tides, the direction of the currents, the regime of the winds, the movement of the sands, the nature of the bottoms as you drive your boats through the navigation channels. Recognition of the importance they had as a social group and the value of practical information they possessed was recorded in the Charter of Privileges of the Pilots of Barra de Lisboa", attributed by King Dom Manuel, in 1515, a document that granted them various benefits such as the exemption of taxes and easements, in this way the King sought to guarantee the service of pilotage to the important ships that entered the bar, whose holds loaded with spices and goods from multiple stops sustained the prosperity of the kingdom. Until the middle of the 19th century, fishermen and sailors with pilots' registration continued to resort to the service. Only from then on would pilotage progressively give way to scientific pilotage. Until recent times, despite the scientific advances that the art of sailing recorded, the words written by the cosmographer Manoel Pimentel remained current, who, in 1712, warned that the terrestrial beacons that referenced the threads of the channels of the Tagus bar (among them the elevation where the lighthouse of "Mama" de Carnaxide is located today), served "only for those who have a lot of knowledge of the sites, which cannot be declared in writing" Mapping Barra do Tejo was therefore an urgent and vital need. The great increase in commercial traffic in the city of Lisbon, in the 16th century, on the one hand, and the increase in the draft of ships on the other, forced it to do so. Recording the topography of the port, soundings at the bottom, rocks and sand formations, navigation channels and threads was certainly a concern that came to be shared by the crown, the cosmographers at its service and also those of foreign maritime nations.

The oldest representations of Barra do Tejo are of foreign origin and belong to Dutch atlases, dating from 1572/80 and 1583(1). of the crown. Very little separates the 15th and 17th century records from those of the late 17th century, even though the configuration of the coastline has progressively acquired clearer and more approximate contours and more nautical information (greater number of soundings and navigation channels signaling), it is It was in the 18th century (1607) that the first record of the reference point now known as Monte da "Mama" in Carnaxide appears, in Leonardo Turriano's "Planta de la Barra de Lisboa", scale 100 fathoms. In "Leonardo Turriano's speech about cleaning the Barra del Texo and other bars of other rivers", by that time it would have ceased to be just a reference elevation and a sinus-shaped building would have already been built (which I think was the origin of the nomenclature now attributed to the place), so that it could be better viewed from the entrance to the bar. Despite the fact that the reference point for Farol da Mama was registered in 1607 with a building already built, it was evidently used as a navigation landmark in much earlier times, probably since the time of the Roman occupation.

After verifying that there would have been a building before the lighthouse currently existing on the elevation, we went to the site and were able to identify, close to the current structure, the traces of the original brand as shown in the photographs below

The Carnaxide lighthouse is therefore part of the beaconing system of one of the main navigation channels of the Tagus Estuary, the Barra Sul Channel. As can be read in the Regulation of the Lisbon Port Authority, on page 65 of the 2008 version: "the axis of this channel is defined by the alignment of the Gibalta and Esteiro lighthouses with the Mama Sul brand"

It is common to oscillate between the designations of landmark (or vertex) geodesic and lighthouse. It is strange that the competent authorities are silent about its reference. The Directorate of Lighthouses does not list it as such (perhaps because, officially, it is just a beacon mark, as stated in the APL Regulation), unlike the Revista da Armada, which refers to pages 145 of its compilation of magazines of the year 2006 as Farol da Mama (but also as Marca da Mama). The Army Geographical Institute refers to it as a 2nd or 3rd order geodetic vertex, but the Portuguese Geographical Institute omits it from the search results in the National Geodesic Network (it appears, however, in the listing of the ETRS89 system).

On the page of the Parish Council of Carnaxide it is mentioned that "the so-called «Rocket of Carnaxide» [is] a construction erected at an elevation of 145 meters above sea level next to an existing geodesic landmark in the locality". Therefore, it will not be an apex with the function of a lighthouse, but an apex and a lighthouse very close together.

The recent works had, above all, the function of raising the lighthouse, whose visibility would be compromised by the construction of tall buildings in the vicinity. In fact, the elevation and the new painting give it an appearance more in line with a lighthouse, but the surrounding works are, apparently, at a standstill: after earthworks and the construction of some infrastructure (roads, public lighting and parking spaces) , the site was abandoned

It was lit in 1995 with a “Tideland” RL-355 directional light. It has a height of 15 meters at an altitude of 82 meters, to achieve a luminous range of 21 nautical miles.

It was refurbished in 2013(2) by the firm Lindley under the supervision of the Direcção Geral de Farois, increasing its luminous intensity to 400,000 candelas per unit, allowing ranges of over 10 MN during the day and 24 MN at night. Gibalta, Esteiro and Mama lighthouses and web monitoring of the lighthouse's operating status.

Versão portuguesa aqui.

GPS 38.72765082347019, -9.227159557672124

The Mama Lighthouse , branded by Mama or Mama Sul, is a Portuguese lighthouse (which is also a geodesic landmark), which is built on an elevation of 145 meters in the Serra de Carnaxide, municipality of Oeiras, district of Lisbon, about 4 km NE (northeast) of Farol do Esteiro.

The lighthouse consists of a white monument with three feet, with the lantern installed on a platform 10 meters high.

The navigability and safety conditions offered by the Tagus estuary have always favored human presence in the area. The oldest traces of this presence date back to prehistory. Historians believe that the Phoenicians, in the century. XII BC, recognized the merits of Lisbon's location and established a commercial port on the North Bank of the Tagus River. The strategic importance of Lisbon did not escape the knowledge of other nations of sailors and explorers, which in 205 BC, would have motivated the conquest of the city by the Romans and its baptism as Olissipo, which received the epithet of “Felicitas Lulia”. With the fall of the Roman Empire, the Suevi and the Visigoths followed who had controlled the city since 472 AD. The Moors took Lisbon – Asch-Bonnah – in 714 AD. and developed the port through their Mediterranean and Atlantic trading activities. In the century XI the process of internal reorganization of Europe takes on a new direction and, with the development of the crusades, traffic and maritime trade suffered considerable increases. D. Afonso Henriques, realizing the strategic importance of the city of Lisbon in the international context, directed his expansion movements towards the south, with a view to establishing a zone of Portuguese influence along the coast, managing to guarantee the support of the crusades for the conquest from the city of Lisbon, fundamental for dominating the Tagus estuary, a large natural port that would greatly improve the importance of the territory in this European context. Thus, on June 28, 1147, a fleet of 164 ships entered the Tagus carrying an army of 13,000 crusaders. Having played a fundamental role in the conquest of the city of Lisbon from the Moors and, later, in the defense of the nationality, the port is closely linked to the city that was born and prospered with it. At the beginning of the century In the 13th century, navigation methods evolved a lot, with the use of the compass as a navigation aid and the introduction of the rudder, bringing more stability and maneuverability to the vessels. Larger ships with greater cargo capacity are built.

When they appear, in the first quarter of the century. XIII, the first regular lines from the Mediterranean to England and Northern Europe, through the Strait of Gibraltar, Lisbon is a mandatory stopover for all ships in transit along the Portuguese coast. Benefiting from an enviable geographic situation, the port of Lisbon will easily be inserted in the international maritime routes.

Seafarers and fishermen from Lisbon to Cascais became familiar with the Tagus and its mouth from an early age. The wisest and most experienced among them, the so-called "river practitioners", learned, in their daily work, through continuous observation, the natural laws that governed the cycle of the tides, the direction of the currents, the regime of the winds, the movement of the sands, the nature of the bottoms as you drive your boats through the navigation channels. Recognition of the importance they had as a social group and the value of practical information they possessed was recorded in the Charter of Privileges of the Pilots of Barra de Lisboa", attributed by King Dom Manuel, in 1515, a document that granted them various benefits such as the exemption of taxes and easements, in this way the King sought to guarantee the service of pilotage to the important ships that entered the bar, whose holds loaded with spices and goods from multiple stops sustained the prosperity of the kingdom. Until the middle of the 19th century, fishermen and sailors with pilots' registration continued to resort to the service. Only from then on would pilotage progressively give way to scientific pilotage. Until recent times, despite the scientific advances that the art of sailing recorded, the words written by the cosmographer Manoel Pimentel remained current, who, in 1712, warned that the terrestrial beacons that referenced the threads of the channels of the Tagus bar (among them the elevation where the lighthouse of "Mama" de Carnaxide is located today), served "only for those who have a lot of knowledge of the sites, which cannot be declared in writing" Mapping Barra do Tejo was therefore an urgent and vital need. The great increase in commercial traffic in the city of Lisbon, in the 16th century, on the one hand, and the increase in the draft of ships on the other, forced it to do so. Recording the topography of the port, soundings at the bottom, rocks and sand formations, navigation channels and threads was certainly a concern that came to be shared by the crown, the cosmographers at its service and also those of foreign maritime nations.

The oldest representations of Barra do Tejo are of foreign origin and belong to Dutch atlases, dating from 1572/80 and 1583(1). of the crown. Very little separates the 15th and 17th century records from those of the late 17th century, even though the configuration of the coastline has progressively acquired clearer and more approximate contours and more nautical information (greater number of soundings and navigation channels signaling), it is It was in the 18th century (1607) that the first record of the reference point now known as Monte da "Mama" in Carnaxide appears, in Leonardo Turriano's "Planta de la Barra de Lisboa", scale 100 fathoms. In "Leonardo Turriano's speech about cleaning the Barra del Texo and other bars of other rivers", by that time it would have ceased to be just a reference elevation and a sinus-shaped building would have already been built (which I think was the origin of the nomenclature now attributed to the place), so that it could be better viewed from the entrance to the bar. Despite the fact that the reference point for Farol da Mama was registered in 1607 with a building already built, it was evidently used as a navigation landmark in much earlier times, probably since the time of the Roman occupation.

After verifying that there would have been a building before the lighthouse currently existing on the elevation, we went to the site and were able to identify, close to the current structure, the traces of the original brand as shown in the photographs below

The Carnaxide lighthouse is therefore part of the beaconing system of one of the main navigation channels of the Tagus Estuary, the Barra Sul Channel. As can be read in the Regulation of the Lisbon Port Authority, on page 65 of the 2008 version: "the axis of this channel is defined by the alignment of the Gibalta and Esteiro lighthouses with the Mama Sul brand"

It is common to oscillate between the designations of landmark (or vertex) geodesic and lighthouse. It is strange that the competent authorities are silent about its reference. The Directorate of Lighthouses does not list it as such (perhaps because, officially, it is just a beacon mark, as stated in the APL Regulation), unlike the Revista da Armada, which refers to pages 145 of its compilation of magazines of the year 2006 as Farol da Mama (but also as Marca da Mama). The Army Geographical Institute refers to it as a 2nd or 3rd order geodetic vertex, but the Portuguese Geographical Institute omits it from the search results in the National Geodesic Network (it appears, however, in the listing of the ETRS89 system).

On the page of the Parish Council of Carnaxide it is mentioned that "the so-called «Rocket of Carnaxide» [is] a construction erected at an elevation of 145 meters above sea level next to an existing geodesic landmark in the locality". Therefore, it will not be an apex with the function of a lighthouse, but an apex and a lighthouse very close together.

The recent works had, above all, the function of raising the lighthouse, whose visibility would be compromised by the construction of tall buildings in the vicinity. In fact, the elevation and the new painting give it an appearance more in line with a lighthouse, but the surrounding works are, apparently, at a standstill: after earthworks and the construction of some infrastructure (roads, public lighting and parking spaces) , the site was abandoned

It was lit in 1995 with a “Tideland” RL-355 directional light. It has a height of 15 meters at an altitude of 82 meters, to achieve a luminous range of 21 nautical miles.

It was refurbished in 2013(2) by the firm Lindley under the supervision of the Direcção Geral de Farois, increasing its luminous intensity to 400,000 candelas per unit, allowing ranges of over 10 MN during the day and 24 MN at night. Gibalta, Esteiro and Mama lighthouses and web monitoring of the lighthouse's operating status.