One of my few pages not about bordermarkers.
Märket Island, not an easy place to reach. From Eckerö (Åland) it's best to rent a boat with shipper who can bring you to the island. The distance from Eckerö to Märket is about 20 kilometers. A private ferry is not cheap but for most of us this is the only possibility. During our expedition we stayed in Mariehamn.
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Position of Märket Märket is situated in the Baltic Sea, close to the coast of Åland. The small island of 3.3 hectare is an unihbited skerry, shared by Sweden and Finland. Åland itself has been an autonomus and demilitarised region of Finland since a 1920 decison of the Leage of Nations. Its official language is Swedish. The capital city is Mariehamn, a friendly and nice small town.
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The strange border There is a lighthouse on the Finnish side of the current border, which has been unmanned and automated since 1979. When it was built by the Grand Duchy of Finland (then part of the Russian Empire) in 1885, the island was considered a no-man's land, so the lighthouse was simply built upon the highest point of the island. However, the location selected was within the Swedish portion of the island. Though the lighthouse was formally on the Swedish side of the border, it was never considered Swedish, or administrated from Sweden. As a result, the border was adjusted in 1985 so that the lighthouse is now located on Finnish territory. The adjustment was carried out such that no net transfer of territory occurred, and the ownership of the coastline was unchanged so as not to interfere with each country's fishing rights. (Information found on Wikipedia)
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Märekt seen from the sea on a cloudy day. That's all there is, the 3.3 hectare.
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Reachable by a small rubber boat. The island is only reachable by a small rubber boat. When the sea is very calm also bigger boats can reach it. When we were there, we had to switch on this rubber boat. And although the lighthouse is unmanned and automated since 1979, a large group of volunteers maintain the lighthouse and its buildings. They give short guided tours to the few visitors and sell some interesting souvenirs as tee-shirts and postcards. The volunteers we met were very enthusiastic and friendly.
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Buildings On the left a technical building with intruments controlled by the Finnish Border Guard. Here is also a sauna, used by the volunteers. The middle building is the engine room with generators to deliver power for the lighthouse and for the other power needed. On the right the lighthouse. The house is habited by the volunteers.
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Shield with history The shield tells the history of Märket in three languages.
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Proud volunteer A proud volunteer showing her tee-shirt 'Member of the crew'. The tee-shirts sold here do not contain this text.
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Inscrption Inscription in the wall north of the lighthouse. Not exactly clear what is the meaning. Most likely the Finnish architect Gustav Florentin Granholm (1836 - 1922) apporved the building of the lighthouse although he was not the desginer.
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The lamp in the lighthouse We were allowed to visit the small and narrow platform in the top of the lighthouse. From there we had a nice overview over the island and the sea.
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Engine room The enige room in the most southern building. All these generators are out of service. Solars panels and one smaller generator are enough to supply the energy needed.
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Radio room Märket Reef, and more specific the Finnish part is very interesting for radio amateurs. Because it is far from the home country and separated from it by another entity (Åland) Market Reef counts as an separate entity on the radio amateurs countries list, accoring to Harry ten Veen. We took a look in the radio room where OJ0JW is active.
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Stamp Ålond has it own stamps.Märket is on one of them. "Världen" means world, so the value of this stamp is for a letter to all over the world.
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