A Skating Lighthouse

[Søren Harbel: Rubjerg Knude Fyr I]

I had read about the famous lighthouse at Rudbjerg Kunde. I had never been to see it, but have over the years visited many lighthouses. Rudbjerg Knude was different. It is a story of dogged determination, and a refusal to bow down…..

Kjeld Pedersen drove by the lighthouse twice every day. On his way to and from work. He could see it from his house. A bricklayer by trade, Kjeld looked forward to seeing his old friend standing there at the water’s edge, where it had stood for more than 120 years, guiding ships at sea along the dangerous coast.

[Photographer unknown, from the Parish archives: The now demolished Mårup Church, 2004]

Kjeld Pedersen had been one of the people tasked with taking down a church, Mårup Kirke, up the coast a bit. The church was about to slide into the sea, as the ocean continued to chew away at the sandy soil and porous cliffs that run along the coast. The church was built in the 12th century, more than a kilometre inland. Since then nature had slowly eaten away at the coastline. In 1793 it was 450 metres /1500 feet from the ocean, in 2008 only 8 metres / 25 feet from the cliff edge. Finally it was deemed too dangerous to have the church remain. Kjeld Pedersen was hired to help remove the church. Brick by brick. Kjeld does not like to drive past the site of the church any longer. “It hurts too much”, he says.

[Søren Harbel: Rubjerg Knude Fyr VII]

[Søren Harbel: Rubjerg Knude Fyr IV]

[Søren Harbel: Rubjerg Knude Fyr V]

Kjeld can see the lighthouse from his home. His daughter would wake up, when she was little, and look out the window. If she could see the lighthouse, she would go out and play, if not, it meant it was too foggy, too rainy, or there was a sandstorm, and it was better to play inside. The lighthouse is part of Kjeld Petersen.

[Søren Harbel: The dunes at Rubjerg Knude Fyr]

When he learned that his favourite lighthouse was in danger of also falling into the sea, he felt he had no choice. He needed to do something. He needed to move the lighthouse.

Kjeld went home, sat down at his computer and did a search: “How to move heavy things”. The next day he called a local crane company and asked if they could help him move a lighthouse. There, a guy came to the phone and said: ‘Sure, why not’.

[Søren Harbel: Rubjerg Knude Fyr II]

[Søren Harbel: Rubjerg Knude Fyr III]

The two men met the next morning in a parking lot and made their way to the foot of the lighthouse. The brick structure was built in 1899. it is 23 metres / 75 feet tall and weighs north of 700 tons. The lighthouse was decommissioned in the 1960s because the sand dunes had grown and shifted, and it was no longer possible to see the lighthouse from the sea from certain angles. It was built 200 metres, or 650 feet from the cliff, but little by little the ocean and the wind have done their worst.

[Søren Harbel: Dunes at Rubjerg Knude Fyr II]

The lighthouse was now standing only a few meters from a 90 metre cliff and the ocean below. A 300 foot drop. The days of the lighthouse were numbered.

The lighthouse keeper’s house had already fallen and it was only a matter of a short few years, or a couple of good storms, before the lighthouse too would disappear from the horizon.

Kjeld and his new friend studied the options and came up with an idea. They would dig below the corners of the lighthouse. Place steel beams below the lighthouse to secure the base. They would then place hydraulic roller skates under the steel beams and move the lighthouse 90 metres / 300 feet inland along a track. Once there, it would be safe for another 50 years.

Kjeld started speaking to people he knew and soon there was a single line in the Danish Ministry of Finance budget for 2019: Moving of a lighthouse. Kjeld made an agreement with the local municipality. They agreed, if Kjeld failed and the lighthouse collapsed, he would not be held liable for anything other than the removal of the bricks.

In the fall of 2019, Kjeld and a few friends started digging. It was too risky to bring in heavy equipment. They brought in steel beams to shore up the base. The hydraulic roller skates were placed under the beams. A track was laid. Kjeld Petersen was ready.

[Søren Harbel: Rubjerg Knude Fyr IV]

[Søren Harbel: Ocean mist at Rubjerg Knude Fyr]

As news channels, TV and radio, along with other media started to talk about the first time ever an attempt was going to be made to move a lighthouse to safety, hotels in the area started to fill up. Word spread. Kjeld became a local celebrity.

Finally, dawn announced the arrival of a new day. Tuesday, October 22nd, 2019. At 9 in the morning, the lighthouse started its slow majestic skate to safety. Kjeld thought hard about standing on top of the lighthouse while it was being moved, but was pretty sure the health and safety regulators would prevent him from doing so. He was that confident his plan would work.

Sure enough, over a four hour period, moving very slowly, the lighthouse got to its new position. Safe for another generation. Maybe two. Tourists from far and wide across Denmark, even some international visitors, came to watch the move. Many, like me, came after to see the lighthouse.

When the number of visitors died down a bit, Kjeld came back with his tools and made sure the bricks that needed it were repointed, and whitewash was applied properly.

Sadly, I was not there to watch or photograph the move. It would no doubt have been something very special. I have attached a link below with a timelapse video of the move. It is awesome!

As Kjeld said to his wife, Ulla, before he started the project: “Ulla, I don’t care if I have to work for free, as long as the lighthouse is safe, so that I can look at it every day, until the day I die, I will be happy”.

Thank you for joining me. I have a thing for lighthouses. I like to photograph them. And the story of Rubjerg Knude Lighthouse is irresistible. I will be back with more lighthouses one day soon.

Until next time….

---

[Quotations in this post are translated very unscientifically by me from a TV2 interview conducted in Danish. The balance is drawn from various news clips and what I have heard anecdotally from resident sources near the lighthouse.]

The roller skating Rubjerg Knude lighthouse, it is located in North Jutland. It is a little south of the small village of Lønstrup, about 50 km north west of Aalborg Airport, a mid-size regional airport.

There is a parking lot about a mile inland from where a sandy path leads you to the large dunes and the lighthouse.

You can watch a timelapse video here. It is all of 24 seconds. It is fun to watch:

https://www.tv2nord.dk/hjoerring/fem-ar-siden-flyttede-kjeld-et-fyr-pa-700-tons