Malören

Malören

Malören Location of Malören
Geography
Coordinates	65°31′41″N 23°33′25″E / 65.528°N 23.557°E / 65.528; 23.557Coordinates: 65°31′41″N 23°33′25″E / 65.528°N 23.557°E / 65.528; 23.557
Area	0.85 km2 (0.33 sq mi)
Administration
Sweden
Island	Kalix archipelago
Demographics
Languages	Swedish

Malören (Finnish: Maluri) is an island in the Kalix archipelago of northern Sweden. It lies to the southwest of Sandskär, but is not part of the Haparanda Archipelago National Park. Malören has the shape of an atoll, with sandbanks around an inland sea. It came into existence about 1,500 years ago when the area began to rise by 85 cm (33 in) per century. Since 1997, the island has been a nature reserve, encompassing 181 ha (450 acres). On the island is a chapel, built in 1769, and a lighthouse, built in 1851.

The island attracted fishermen in the 1600s and 1700s, especially from the Finnish side of the nearby border. Attracted by the herring, fisherman came from Torneå and from Karlö in Ostrobothnia setting up two separate communities on the island with up to 200 people living there during the summer. A pole marker was set up in 1725, and ten years later made into a beacon (a painted marker that functions like a lighthouse but has no light). Fishing became very productive during the second half of the 18th century when ten percent of the catch used to be donated to the priest in Torneå. As result of the island's prosperity, in 1768, a chapel was established there on the orders of the magistrate of Torneå. With its tall spire, it became known as "Skärgårdens domkyrka" ("cathedral of the islands").

Malören became a pilot station in 1827. In 1851, a 17.5 m (57 ft) tall lighthouse was built, the first to be designed by Gustaf von Heidenstam. A somewhat smaller lighthouse was built in 1891 to save manpower; however, this newer tower was closed down in about 1910 and the older one again placed in service, now with a gas-powered light; the keepers were withdrawn at the same time and pilots took over their maintenance. When telephone service arrived in 1932, the pilot station was combined with that on another island, Erikören, and Malören no longer had a pilot living there year-round. In 1958, the lighthouse was replaced with a Dalén light.