The civil Telegraph

By the end of 1801, the optical telegraphs on the Great Belt -Korsør, Nyborg and Sprogø -were handed over to the Postal Services. These telegraphs were given special civil functions that lasted until the advent of electrical telegraphs in 1854.

The optical telegraph at Nyborg. Painting. Undated copy in the Post & Tele Museum. (The original is in Nyborg Museum).

There are surprisingly few optical telegraphs that feature in the Romantic literature and art of the period, as in this picture. This was an age in which nature was worshipped and technology was not considered to have an aesthetic dimension.