Columbus Lighthouse

About

The Columbus Lighthouse is the result of a few centuries of international tug of war over the remains of Christopher Columbus, which saw the explorer’s body move from Spain to the Dominican Republic, to Cuba, to Spain. Or so the Spanish say. In the late 19th century, a Dominican worker uncovered a lead box inscribed “Don Colon”, the “Admiral of the Ocean Sea”. The Dominicans assumed the Spanish took the wrong coffin in their haste leaving the country in 1795. But both Christopher and his son Diego held the moniker in their lifetimes, and both countries insist they are the keeper’s of Columbus’ remains. While Spain created an elaborate tomb in Seville for their box, the Dominican Republic created the Columbus Lighthouse. At the heart of the 688-foot-long cruciform complex, a 30-foot-tall Gothic sculpture covered in bas-relief carvings of Columbus’ adventures displays an ornately decorated bronze urn containing the remains of the Discoverer. Along with the mausoleum, a museum spanning 50 rooms presents exhibits and artifacts from over 40 countries connected to the European Discovery of America.