The 2008/I coinage includes the 2008 euro coinage of Finland. The coinage set is accompanied by a mint medal from the series “Finnish Kallbådan”: it features the Porkkala lighthouse at the islet of Kallbådan. The mint medal was designed by artist Hannu Veijalainen.
There are 20 architecturally valuable lighthouses in the territorial waters of Finland: all originally manned. Built in 1920, the most recent of these is the lighthouse on the islet Kallbådan, approximately ten nautical miles south of the cape of Porkkala.
The first sight of the lighthouse at Kallbådan is an unsettling one: it seems like a big red stone house were afloat in the middle of the Gulf of inland. Rising just 2,5 meters above sea level, the islet is often washed all over by the waves – building the lighthouse was a veritable adventure. Today, the lighthouse is self-sustaining and fully automatic, and the protected islet is inhabited by seals only.
