The Tower of Hercules is the oldest known extant Roman lighthouse. It was built in the 1st century AD, or possibly rebuilt then, by Emperor Trajan. A cornerstone inscription credits the architect Gaius Sevius Lupus of Aeminium, now Coimbra, and the tower was dedicated to Mars. The article says its design was based on the plans of the Lighthouse of Alexandria. It has been in consistent use since the 2nd century.
The original tower was shorter and wider, and a spiral ramp wound around the surviving core. From 1788 to 1791 the naval engineer Eustaquio Giannini restored it in a neoclassical manner. He kept the 112-foot (34 m) Roman core and added a new 69-foot (21 m) fourth story. It now stands 180 feet (55 m) high.
It became a Spanish National Monument on June 3, 1931, and UNESCO listed it on June 27, 2009. A sculpture garden stands nearby.
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