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Witness History: Columbus Lighthouse

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Columbus Lighthouse

22/02/2024 GMT

BBC World Service - Witness History, Columbus Lighthouse

A memorial for the ashes of Christopher Columbus opened in the Dominican Republic in 1992

Columbus Lighthouse, said to be sheltering the ashes of Christopher Columbus opened in the Dominican Republic in 1992, but it was a struggle to get the monument built.

In 1992, Columbus Lighthouse opened in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic.

 It was designed to house the ashes of explorer, Christopher Columbus.

 The huge memorial is built in the form of a horizontal cross and has 157 searchlight beams that when turned on project a gigantic cross into the sky. The light is so powerful it can be seen from over 300km away in Puerto Rico. 

Tour guide and historian, Samuel Bisono tells Gill Kearsley about the struggle to get the monument built.

(Photo: Columbus Lighthouse. Credit: Gill Kearsley)

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