Lighthouses of Slovakia

The nation of Slovakia (officially the Slovak Republic, Slovenská republika in the Slovak language) is located in central Europe between Poland on the north and Hungary on the south. For centuries it was part of the Kingdom of Hungary and its successor, the Empire of Austria-Hungary. The Empire was dissolved at the end of World War I, and Slovakia then became part of the new nation of Czechoslavakia. It became independent in 1993 when Czechoslovakia was peacefully divided into the Czech Republic on the west and Slovakia on the east.

Navigation in Slovakia is limited to the Danube River, which flows along the southwestern edge of the country before turning southward into Hungary. Ship traffic is heavy along the river but official navigational aids are limited to buoys and small post lights and beacons.

The Slovak word for a lighthouse is maják; rieka is a river and pristav is a harbor.

General Sources
Lighthouses of the Danube
This January 2013 blog post by Dániel Szávoszt-Vass has good information and photos on Danube lighthouses.
World of Lighthouses - Slovakia
Photos by various photographers available from Lightphotos.net.
Lighthouses in Slovakia
Photos by various photographers available from Wikimedia.
Navionics Charts
Navigation chart for the Danube.

Devín Light, Devín, April 2010
Google Maps photo by Tomáš Gula
Danube Lighthouse
* Devín
Date unknown. Active (?) (unofficial; charted as a landmark); focal plane about 25 m (82 ft); continuous (?) white light. Approx. 17 m (56 ft) round tower with lantern and gallery rising from the front of a 3-story residential building. Tower painted white; lantern dome is black. Tomáš Gula has the closeup photo above, Nico Wohlgemuth has a photo, Lightphotos.net has a photo by Andreas Köhler, and Google has a street view and a satellite view. The street views appear to show a lens in the lantern, so it is likely that at least a decorative light is displayed. For travelers along the river the lighthouse is a familiar and often-photographed landmark; for eastbound vessels it marks the river's arrival in Slovakia as it leaves Austrian territory. In front of the lighthouse is a dock visited by passenger ferries. Located on the waterfront of Devín. Site open, tower closed.

Notable faux lighthouses:

Adjoining pages: South: Hungary | West: Austria

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Posted August 12, 2021. Checked and revised September 19, 2023. Lighthouses: 1. Site copyright 2023 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.