If you are thinking about getting a tattoo, one interesting design that you can take into consideration is the lighthouse. Although it is not that popular, both women and men do still seek them out. It can even represent many different things. They are very meaningful and colorful to those that have them. Even though the lighthouse can appear in different sizes, because of the detail, color, and shades, it looks much better large. Here, we are going to discuss the lighthouse tattoo designs, and what do they mean.
However, we are going to explain what does the lighthouse represents, and from what time does it come from. 
- What is a lighthouse?
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or another type of structure that emits light from a system of lamps and lenses. It serves as a navigational help for maritime pilots at sea or inland waterways.
Lighthouses mark dangerous coastlines, reefs, hazardous shoals, rocks, and sage entries to harbors. Moreover, they assist in aerial navigation. Their use was widespread in the past, but the number of uses has declined nowadays. This is because of the expense of maintenance and the use of electronic navigational systems.
Before the development of these clearly defined ports, fires built on hilltops guided the marines. Since raising the fire improves visibility, placing the fire on a platform became a practice that led to the development of lighthouses.
In antiquity, the lighthouse was more as an entrance marker to ports than as a warning signal. Nowadays, it is the warning signal for promontories and reefs. The most famous lighthouse structure from ancient times is the Pharos of Alexandria, Egypt. This lighthouse collapsed after a series of earthquakes between 956 and 1323.
The modern era of lighthouses started at the turn of the 18th century. The advances in structural engineering and new and efficient lighting equipment permitted for the creation of more powerful lighthouses. This included the ones exposed to the sea. The function of lighthouses changed, and it was providing visible warning against shipping hazards, like reefs and rocks.
There are two types of lighthouses, the ones located on land, and the ones which are offshore. These towers have the purpose of helping navigation over land, featureless landscapes, and prevailing weather conditions.
- Lighthouse tattoos, meaning, and symbolism.
Although the lighthouse is a maritime safeguard and a welcome sight for sailors, it gained more meanings nowadays. Light, in different contexts, is full of symbolism and suggestive of higher concepts, like the sun and the sky. It also symbolizes the heavens. It is the illumination not just of the outward nature, but of the inward too.
The lighthouse captures that light in a tower, focusing it, as well as projecting it outward. In this way, it provides guidance and direction.
Lighthouse tattoos are unique, particularly in the sense that they not just come in cool designs, but may be customized. This means that we may get some additional elements to accompany our lighthouse. We can include quotes, birds, scrolls, waves, anchors, oceanic landscapes, etc.
There are many different meanings associated with the lighthouse tattoo design. These tattoos are most common among fishers and sailors. These are the people who can carry deep symbolic meaning with their tattoos.
Those symbolic meanings are the following:
- Protection;
- Warning;
- Guidance;
- Safety;
- Inspiration;
- Direction;
- Hope;
- Faith;
- Destiny;
- Home, etc.
The lighthouse has always provided some sense of protection and safety to those that spend their time traveling on waters. As much as you may love the waves, your heart is where your home is. This means that your home is where land is. That’s why the light from a mighty lighthouse will assure you that the coast is near. This will also be a sign that you are on the right path.
Even though it is symbolic, a lot of people choose it for its beauty. It is very colorful, and there are various things which they may associate with them, which we already mentioned. This will give people many different options.
For instance, you can design it to make it look realistic or make it more like a cartoon look. You can even include landscape behind it, or make it appear like it is within the clouds.
A lighthouse tattoo may act as the guide in your life, but may also become the guide to your creativity. We say this because of the huge scope that this theme gives to the wearer and the artist. Innumerable ideas are coming with it.
Because of all this, we said that this design is very popular among fishers and sailors. They may use it to symbolize those who brave the open waters every day to make for a living for their families. When we take all this into consideration, this is meaningful, just like any other tattoo symbol in this world.
