The Chennai Marina Light House inside Chennai City is the only light house in India lying within the city limits.
The Chennai Marina Light House is the first modern light house of Chennai with electric lights and the only light house provided with elevator/lift.
The First light house of Chennai was at a height of 99 feet on the roof of the ‘Exchange Building’ built in the year 1796, inside the Fort St George, where the present ‘Secretariat of the State Government of Tamilnadu has been functioning.
The Second tower of Chennai light house of height 120 feet was built in the year 1841at Esplanade near the present Madras High Court Complex.
In the year 1894 when the Madras High Court Building was constructed, the roof of its minaret at a height of 175 feet was used as the third light house of Chennai.
The present Chennai Marina Light House is the 4th tower of the Chennai Light House, built in the year 1976 and opened in the year 1977.
The height of the 10 floored, ‘Chennai Marina Light House’ is 150 Feet /45.72 Metres.
The foundation and the construction of the light house is in Reinforced Cement Concrete/RCC.
The shape of the light house tower is triangular-cylindrical with lantern and double gallery and with markings of horizontal red and white bands on the body of the tower.
The electrical lantern has a focal height of 187 feet/57 metres above MSL/mean sea level, with a lens of 375 mm with an intensity of 110 Volts/3000 Watts.
The ‘Chennai Marina Light House’ was closed for visitors for security reasons, from May 1991 after the assassination of the former Prime Minister of India, Mr.Rajiv Gandhi.
The base of the tower of the Chennai Marina Light House was damaged by the waves from the ‘Tsunami’ in the Indian Ocean on the 26 December 2004.
The 9th floor of the tower has a viewing gallery, in 2 balconies, fitted with steel welded mesh panels erected for safety, to avoid suicide attempts witnessed in the past.
The 10th floor has a high-security radar installed and is not open to public.
The elevator/lift provide in the lighthouse will take the visitors directly to the viewing gallery on the ninth floor and visitors will not be given access to any other floors.
A closed circuit television /CCTV- camera had been installed in every floor and the footage will be monitored on the ground floor and alarms had been installed at various floors.
The employees of the light house have been given training on handling “Fire Extinguishers” and “First Aid”.
Emergency exits have been provided on every floor.
The ‘Marina Light House’ and a ‘Technical Museum’ inside the light house complex are opened for visitors from 14th November 2013 and the visitors will be allowed on all days, excluding Mondays and the timings will be from 10 am to 1 pm and from 3 pm to 5 pm.
The entry fees for children will be Rs 5/- and for adults Rs 10/- for the light house and Rs 10/- per head for the museum.
As the Chennai Marina Light House has been reopened after 22 years for public visitors with an added technical museum, the Marina Beach will be having an added tourists’ attraction.
The visiting timings of the light house and the technical museums will not affect the regular visitors to the Marina Beach, for walking, jogging and games in the mornings and for time-pass in the evenings, especially on Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays.
