The ”Red Cliff" lighthouse

Big Christian
Do you know "Christian", the old man of the Red Cliff?

His long, shiny fingers constantly reach into the night, flash over heaths, dunes and sea, spring into windows and dart over walls. Light-dark, light-dark, light-dark, night after night, from sunrise to sundown. Do you recognise "Christian"? He was christened thus years ago by Heinz Klevenow - "Klee" from the Thalia Theatre in Hamburg. But why "Christian"? "For me all Danish kings are called Christian", says he. And so he has remained "Christian" to us, even though it was actually King Friedrich VII of Denmark who in 1853 gave the order to build the Red Cliff lighthouse.
Who has not wished once in a while to cast a look over Kampen and the island. It used to be possible to do this. The lighthouse could be visited and the visitor books that are still available in the Sylt archives from the years 1873-1877 and 1883-1886 show what a popular excursion goal – reached by horse-drawn carriage - the Red Cliff beacon once was.
Only in June 1953 did the tower, walled by yellow Bornholm cement, look like it does today: white with wide horizontal black stripes. A year later a new switchgear was installed. The days of lighthouse keepers are long gone. Today all Sylt lights are remote-controlled by a remote timer from Koblenz. The fire is switched on an hour before sundown and switched off an hour after sunrise.
Old "Christian"? You look nice and fresh: in 2006 Kampen celebrates the 150th anniversary of its famous "Big Christian" lighthouse. In anticipation of this, in summer and autumn of 2005 it was renovated and freshly painted.