Lighthouses of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosna i Hercegovina in Bosnian) is one of the nations that became independent following the breakup of the Yugoslav federation in 1991. Unfortunately it was a difficult birth leading to a bitter war between the ethnic groups inhabiting the country. The war was finally ended by the Dayton Agreement of December 1995 although tensions remain.

The country is mostly mountainous and remote from the sea. Herzegovina, the southern region of the country, has a very short coastline on Mali Ston Bay, an arm of the Adriatic Sea. The resort town of Neum is the nation's only port. Currently only small craft use the port, but there are plans to develop a commercial port of entry. Neum has been part of Bosnia and Hercegovina since 1699, when the city-state of Ragusa, now Dubrovnik, ceded the town to the Ottoman Empire.

Bosnia and Herzegovina has no beacons large enough to be called lighthouses but this page describes three smaller beacons within the country. Presumably the lights are maintained by the port authority in Neum.

As in Croatian, the Bosnian word for a lighthouse is svjetionik. The word rt is a cape or promontory, ostrvo is an island, hrid (plural hridi) is a rock, and luka is a port or harbor.

ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. PS numbers are from the Yugoslavian light list Popis Svjetala i Signala za Maglu now maintained by Croatia. Admiralty numbers are from volume E of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 113.

General Sources
Online List of Lights - Bosnia and Herzegovina
Photos by various photographers posted by Alexander Trabas.
World of Lighthouses - Bosnia and Herzegovina
Photos by various photographers available from Lightphotos.net.
GPSNauticalCharts
Navigational chart information for Bosnia and Hercegovina.
Navionics Charts
Navigational chart for Bosnia and Hercegovina.


Luka Neum Light, Neum, July 2023
Google Maps photo by Pasi Tolvanen

Lightbeacons
[Rep Kleka (Rt Klek)]
Date unknown. Active; focal plane 8 m (26 ft); white flash every 3 s. 5 m (17 ft) white concrete post. Trabas has a distant view and Bing has a satellite view. Located at the tip of a long peninsula sheltering the Bay of Neum. Site status unknown. ARLHS BOS-001; PS-676; Admiralty E3521; NGA 13792.
[Hrid Lopata]
Date unknown. Active; focal plane 6 m (20 ft); green flash every 3 s. 5 m (17 ft) concrete post painted green. Trabas has Eckhard Meyer's photo and Bing has a satellite view. Located on a reef the Bay of Neum about 1.2 km (3/4 mi) east of the Rep Kleka light. Site status unknown. PS-677; Admiralty E3521.3; NGA 13796.
* [Pristan (Luka Neum)]
Date unknown. Active; focal plane 6 m (20 ft); red flash every 3 s. 5 m (17 ft) steel post, painted red and mounted on a small concrete base. Pasi Tolvanen's 2023 photo is above, Trabas has a photo,and Google has a distant satellite view. Located just off the tip of a headland on the north entrance to Neum harbor. Site open, tower closed. PS-678; Admiralty E3521.5; NGA 13800.

Information available on lost lighthouses:

Notable faux lighthouses:

Adjoining page: Southern Croatia

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Posted December 4, 2014. Checked and revised December 5, 2023. Lighthouses: 0. Site copyright 2023 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.