The Skagen area suffered from severe problems with sand drift up through the 18th century and in 1795 the old church had to be abandoned. It was a brick church of considerable size dedicated to Saint Lawrence which dated from the beginning of the 15th century and located 2 km south-west of the town centre.
A new church was built in 1841 to the design of Christian Frederik Hansen. The design was adapted in 1909-10 by Ulrik Plesner who also designed a number of other buildings in Skagen. Plesner collaborated with Thorvald Bindesbøll on the interior. Anne L. Hansen created interior decorations and a new colour scheme in 1989.
References:Towering 52 meters above the sea, Bengtskär lighthouse is the tallest one in Scandinavia. The building started in in 1905 after the shipwreck of S/S Helsingfors and was completed in 1906. The lighthouse was designed by architect Florentin Granholm. On December a special petrol lantern, designed and built in Paris, was brought to Bengtskär and installed atop the tower.
German fleet bombarded Bengstkär in the First World War in 1914. Since the Gulf of Finland was heavily mined, it was not until 1919 that the surrounding seas were declared safe for shipping, that the light was lit again.
After the war the military value of Bengtskär increased as part of the defence system of independent Finland. In Second World War (1941) Soviet Union made a suprise attack to island. After a bloody battle, the small Finnish garrison emerged victorious. Intermittent repairs to the facility continued during the post-war period.