It is located on Cape Arkona on the peninsula of Wittow on the northern tip of the island of Rügen.

On each tower is an observation platform, from where there are unimpeded views over the island of Rügen, especially the Wittow Peninsula.

The smaller of the two lighthouses was built of brick in 1826/27, to plans by the Prussian Main Construction Agency (Oberbaudeputation).

Signatures on two drawings of the lighthouse were, on the one hand, interpreted as evidence of Schinkel's authorship and, on the other, as no more than a simple administrative internal check note.

[2] On the other hand, a contemporary, the Berliner engraver Johann Friedrich Rosmäsler, in his 1834 book, Preußen in landschaftlichen Darstellungen ("Prussia in Pictures") calls Schinkel the originator of the design.

The tower is 19.3 metres (63 ft) high and has a focal height of 66 m above sea level (NN).

On 27 June 1894, plans emerged for an electrically powered beacon by the firm Helios to replace the old tower.

From 1911 to 1925, attempts were made – which were ground-breaking for that time – to improve navigation for the Sassnitz-Trelleborg railway ferry, established in 1909, using the emission of radio waves.