The Tower of Hercules is the oldest extant lighthouse known. It has an ancient Roman origin on a peninsula 2.4 km from the centre of A Coruña. The structure stands 55 metres tall and overlooks the North Atlantic coast of Spain. It was built in the 1st century and competently renovated in 1791. There is a sculpture garden featuring works by Pablo Serrano and Francisco Leiro. The Tower of Hercules is a National Monument of Spain, and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2009. It is the second-tallest lighthouse in Spain, after the Faro de Chipiona.
The tower is known to have existed by the 1st century, built or perhaps rebuilt under Trajan, possibly on foundations following a design that was Phoenician in origin. Built with the original plans of the Lighthouse of Alexandria. Its base preserves a cornerstone with the inscription MARTI AUG.SACR C.SEVIVS LVPVS ARCHTECTVS AEMINIENSIS LVSITANVS.EX.VO, permitting the original lighthouse tower to be ascribed to the architect Gaius Sevius Lupus, from Aeminium (present-day Coimbra, Portugal) in the former province of Lusitania, as an offering dedicated to the Roman god of war, Mars. The tower has been in constant use since the 2nd century and is considered to be the oldest existent lighthouse. The original tower was shorter and wider, as the surviving core was surrounded by a spiral ramp. The outline of this ramp is still visible in the restored exterior. The final storey was likely surmounted with a dome. The earliest known reference to the lighthouse at Brigantium is by Paulus Orosius in Historiae adversum Paganos written around 415–417
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