The estuary and port of Vigo needed this new light to act as a landing light for ships coming from America or transit to Europe.
The first lighthouse of Alexander of Olavarria began to function 1853 with a second order catadioptrico apparatus and a range of 31 miles, depending on the atmospheric conditions and the distance of the observer.
Its location at the top of Mount Faro, which is the most protruding tip of the southern tip of the central island, eventually revealed the grave error that had been made, because the light was permanently obscured by the mists and mists They settled at a lower height, so it had to be reformed.
The building ended deteriorating with the removal of the torreros and in 1978 it was necessary to rebuild it totally giving rise to the current one.
At present the light has a reduced range of 16 miles.
Curiosities, myths and legends
The Norwegian tanker "Policomander" embarked in the Islands Cíes 5 of May of 1970 although it did not arrive to sink itself.
It is attributed that caused the first "black tide" of Galicia but it is not, not even the first of the estuary of Vigo where in 1957 suffered an accident in front of the Cíes the "Jannina" and in 1965 the "Yanxitas" that curiously Had the same name that would later adopt the "Policomander".
