Name and Location

Svjetionik Sućuraj (Cape Sućuraj Lighthouse) is a coastal lighthouse located at Put Lučice 2, 21469 Sućuraj, Croatia, in the municipality of Općina Sućuraj, Split-Dalmatia County. The coordinates are 43°07′29.8″ N, 17°11′47.2″ E.

2. Construction and History

The lighthouse was first lit in 1874 during the Austro-Hungarian period of coastal navigation improvements. It was inaugurated to guide vessels entering the Hvar Channel and approaching Sućuraj harbour from the east.

3. Architecture and Materials

The structure is a freestanding masonry tower (stone or brick) attached to a single-storey keeper’s house, now unoccupied. The tower has a cylindrical shape with a gallery and lantern, painted white along with the keeper's quarters. The construction material used is local limestone or brick with a rendered finish.

4. Light and Navigation

The lighthouse remains an active aid to navigation under the management of Plovput. Although exact technical details such as tower height, focal height, light range, and characteristic are not publicly available, it is listed on Croatian hydrographic chart B-59 (Adriatic Sea – Hvar channel region) and in the International List of Lights.

5. Accessibility and Visiting

The lighthouse and former keeper’s house are fenced off, and interior visits are not organized. The site can be viewed from the nearby service road (D116), but public access is limited. To reach the site, follow signs for “Lučice”/“Put Lučice” along the main D116 road from Sućuraj town centre.

6. Notable Views and Landscape

The lighthouse sits on a rocky promontory overlooking the open Adriatic toward the Pelješac peninsula and Korčula island to the south, providing wide panoramas of passing merchant and pleasure craft, as well as unbroken sea horizons at sunrise.

7. Anecdotes and Folklore

Although not formally listed as a protected monument, the lighthouse is part of late-19th-century Austro-Hungarian maritime heritage in Dalmatia. Local legend occasionally mentions phantom lights seen offshore on misty nights (unverified).

8. Technical and Operational Details

The lighthouse is fully automated, with power likely sourced from mains electricity with a diesel backup (standard for Plovput-operated lights). The managing authority/operator is Plovput (Javna ustanova Plovput d.o.o.), the Croatian public company responsible for maritime signaling.

9. Further Information

For further information on the lighthouse, visit Plovput's official page at https://www.plovput.hr/pomorska-signalizacija/svjetionici/svjetionik/a/view/id/7 or consult the Croatian Wikipedia entry at https://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svjetionik_Rt_Sućuraj.