A nation of southeastern Europe, Romania (România in Romanian) has roughly 250 km (150 mi) of coastline on the northwestern side of the Black Sea. The southern half of the coastline has the country's major port, Constanţa, with its satellite ports Mangalia and Midia. The northern half is occupied mostly by the large delta of the Danube River. Romania became independent in 1878 after several centuries of control by the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire. The old lighthouse of Sulina, at the mouth of the Danube, is the only lighthouse surviving from the Ottoman period. In recent years Romania has built three very tall modern lighthouses, at Sulina, Constanţa, and Mangalia. Romania is divided into 41 counties (județe) but only two face the Black Sea. The counties are divided into municipalities and rural districts called communes (comună). The Romanian word for a lighthouse is far or farul (plural faruri). In Romanian insulă is an island, capul is a cape, golf is a gulf or bay, râu is a river, gura is the mouth of a river, and port is a port or harbor. In Romanian the Danube is called the Dunărea and the Black Sea is the Marea Neagră. Aids to navigation are maintained by the Romanian Navy's Maritime Hydrographic Directorate (Direcția Hidrografică Maritimă). ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from volume N of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals (prior to 2013 the lights were in volume E with the same numbers). U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 113.
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Tulcea County (Danube Delta) Lighthouses
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Constanţa County Lighthouses
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![]() Midia West Breakwater (foreground) and East Breakwater Spur Lights, September 2007 ex-Panoramio photo copyright Sergiu Pruteanu; permission requested |
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![]() Farul Carol I, Constanţa, November 2015 photo copyright Capt. Theo Hinrichs; used by permission |
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![]() Mangalia Northeast Breakwater Light, Mangalia, May 2011 ex-Flickr photo copyright Américo Alves; used by permission |
Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: North: Ukraine: Odessa Area | South: Bulgaria
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Posted January 18, 2007. Checked and revised September 13, 2023. Lighthouses: 25. Site copyright 2023 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.