The Horse of Marken, the famous lighthouse by Michelle Peeters

The Marken Lighthouse, popularly known as the Horse of Marken, was designed by Jan Valk and built in 1839 and stands on the eastern tip of the island of Marken. The lighthouse has a light height of 16 metres and a light range of 9 nautical miles. The lighthouse keeper's house next to the tower is occupied. The buildings have been national monuments since 1970. The first tower on Marken was built in 1700 and was square. It was one of three lighthouses at Marken, De Ven and Hoek van 't IJ decided in 1699 to mark the route from the Wadden Sea to Amsterdam. The towers were equipped with oil lamps to the design of Jan van der Heyden. In 1839, the square stone tower was replaced by a round iron one. The old foundation was used in the process. Later, a brick building with housing and storage was built on the lighthouse, giving it its characteristic shape. In 1884, the tower received a fog bell. The hammers of this were driven by a movement with a drop weight. In 1919, the fog bell was replaced by a fog horn, for which a machine room was built between the lighthouse and the house. Regularly, the lighthouse suffered from creeping ice. In 1971, this was so bad that the tower was pushed several centimetres out of place. The light house on the tower, which dated from 1901 was replaced in 1993. The old light house now stands on the grounds of the Royal Dutch Rescue Society near Marken harbour.