The Lighthouse (Columbia)

Located near Portland and off the coast of Maine, the Lighthouse is one of the ten stations serving as a relay for departures to and returns from the floating city of Columbia. It is also the first level of BioShock Infinite.
==BioShock Infinite==
The Lighthouse is first seen in the opening scene of the game during a stormy and dark day. Booker DeWitt travels by rowboat with a man and a woman cloaked in yellow raincoats, who leave him on the dock before rowing back to the coast. The structure has three floors, each of them decorated with a needlepoint quote from Comstock as well as several crates and pieces of furniture. The second floor features a desk and a phone with no tonality, as well as a map of Columbia's path around the United States, a list of schedules for departures and returns related to each relay station across the country. Pinned on the map is a written note signed with Comstock's initial, warning of someone's arrival, and ordering the man in post to stop him. Several bloodstains and an overthrown library lead to the third floor, where the lighthouse keeper is found tied to a chair, with a sack drawn over his head, and dead by a gunshot wound to the head. Various tools around suggest the man had been tortured before the arrival of DeWitt. A smoldering cigarette in a nearby ashtray would indicate that whoever killed the lighthouse keeper had left only a very short time before Booker's arrival.
The Lens Room at the top of the Lighthouse is locked by gate with a three-bell security system. The three bells are inscribed with the Scroll, the Key, and the Sword. To open the gate, Booker needs to ring the Scroll bell once, and the other two bells twice each, as indicated on the card which was given to him upon his arrival. The Lighthouse then sends out a series of lights and tones, and receives tones back from the city above the clouds. This indicates to Columbia (when the city has reached the station) the coming of a relay vessel. The gate unlocks and a red chair is exposed to Booker which, after he sits himself down, straps him in and flips upside down to reveal concealed rocket booster nozzles in the last floor of the tower. The chair turns back around and the now-assembled pod launches into to the sky to Columbia.
===Lighthouse in the Sea of Doors===
In the last chapter of the game, after Elizabeth acquires her full powers and takes herself and Booker to the hub of the Sea of Doors, she explains to Booker that lighthouses serve as doors to other realities. She then proceeds to further explain the significance of "A Lighthouse" as one of the three Constants of the multiverse (the other two being "A Man" and "A City").
==Video==
==Gallery==
===Concept Art and Models===
LighthouseLensRoomConcept.jpg|Concept art for the Lens Room.
LighthouseBellsConcept.jpg|Concept art for the Lens Room bells.
PilgrimRocketChairConcept.jpg|Concept art for the Pilgrim Rocket chair.
Q00465.jpg|The Pilgrim Rocket's model.
BSI Security Schedule.png|The schedule list of departures to and returns from Columbia.
Monument Island Card.png|The source file for the card and combination.
Lighthouse Note.png|The note at the door.
Don't Disappoint Us Note.png|The note on the lighthouse keeper.
BioI Lutece Labs Maine Lighthouse Photograph.jpg|A photograph of the Lighthouse in the Lutece Labs.
===In-Game Images===
Kcmx.png|The Lighthouse from a splendid point of view.
BioI Maine Lighthouse Second Floor 1.jpg|The study and sleeping area on the second floor.
BioI Maine Lighthouse Second Floor 2.jpg|The kitchen area with signs of conflict.
BioI Maine Lighthouse Stairs Bloody Handprint.jpg|A bloody handspring leading to the third floor.
BioI Maine Lighthouse Third Floor Stairs Bookshelf.jpg|A bookshelf thrown in a hurry.
Waitthatcard.jpg|Booker uses the card to ring the bells in the correct order.
BioI Maine Lighthouse Bell Activated Fresnel Lens.jpg|The light blinking to the sound of the bells.
Infinite-Lighthouse-01.jpg|A response to the call.
rocketchair.jpg|The chair inside the lighthouse.
Rocketsblast.jpg|The rocket starts blasting off.
==Behind the Scenes==
*Upon closer inspection, the distant buildings seem to be small cardboard cutouts of Soldier's Field, with yellow saturation to simulate far-off lights.
*After the Luteces drop you off, they continue rowing on for a good while until they eventually hit an invisible wall on the edge of the map and stop. They can usually be seen by standing at the far edge of the pier, briefly illuminated by flashes of lightning.
*This area contains a number of oversights & continuity errors:
**The boosters that propel the "Pilgrim Rocket" to Columbia can be seen on the roof of the top floor of the lighthouse. In theory, whenever the rocket is used, the contents and occupants of the room below would be promptly incinerated by the boosters.
**The light from the lighthouse in the beginning of the game rotates counter-clockwise when outside at the base and whilst looking out of the lowest floor windows, isn't visible at all through the middle & upper floor windows, then the light rotates clockwise when outside at the top.
**Once Booker has rung the bells in their proper order, the door to the "Pilgrim Rocket" will swing inwards; out of the rain. However, even when sheltered by the roof, rain continues to pour down the now-sheltered door. 
**Another issue involves the ticking clock by the lighthouse keeper's corpse; whilst the second hand moves the minute and hour hand remain still, perpetually displaying 1:33 (13:33). However, the Columbia timetable shows it arriving over the lighthouse at 7:28am (07:28), departing at 5:40am and pm (05:40 & 17:40). If the clock is accurate, then it's 1:33 in the afternoon, since there is sunlight when the pod breaks through the cloud layer. However, according to the timetable and map, Columbia should be well over four hours away from the lighthouse in Maine, having just passed over Chicago 18 minutes prior. The clock doesn't appear to be damaged, but it's possible that the mechanisms to move the two "main" hands are broken, or that whoever killed the keeper felt it was also necessary to change the time. A more likely explanation is that the developers weren't overly concerned with this depth of in-game continuity & it's just another oversight.
*The lighthouse features a telephone that can be interacted with by Booker. However, it has no effect when used, similar to the pay-phones found in BioShock and BioShock 2.
*On the left side of the lighthouse a small robotic crab can be found amongst the rocks. It cannot normally be reached without the use of cheats and it is easier to see with the brightness turned all the way up.
*The numbers on the card (1,2,2) are likely a reference to the number of previous Booker's.
**The number also matches how many marks the blackboard has on it that the Luteces carry the second time the player meets them.Nerdiest Podcast with Ken Levine at about 00:25
*The concept art for the Lens Room and its bells were made by Chris Chaproniere.Chris Chaproniere's ArtStation Profile
*The chair in the Pilgrim Rocket was designed by Mauricio Tejerina.Mauricio Tejerina Portfolio
*The lighthouse keeper doesn't have a head model under the sack and the body simply ends at the neck, which can be seen using no-clip or by viewing the game files.
*In Burial at Sea - Episode 2, Elizabeth comes across a broken lighthouse snow globe in the Bathysphere Sales Office of Bathyspheres DeLuxe. The globe causes the future events of an airplane crash site by the Rapture Lighthouse to flash before her eyes. The lighthouse in the snow globe uses the model of the Columbia Lighthouse.
==References==
de:Leuchtturm (Columbia)
it:Il Faro (Bioshock Infinite)
ru:Маяк (BioShock Infinite)
Category:BioShock Infinite Locations