Engineers have successfully saved a 1000-tonne, 120-year-old Danish lighthouse by using wheels and rails to gently slide it away from an eroding cliff edge in Jutland.

When built in 1900, the 23m Rubjerg Knude Fyr lighthouse stood some 200m from the cliff edge. By the time of the move, erosion had reduced that to six metres. A combination of rails, jacks and hydraulic systems were used to lift and move the lighthouse 50m inland.

The lighthouse ceased operating in 1968 and was briefly turned into a museum which included an exhibit about the structure’s struggle against sand drift. In the end, it was closed because of shifting sands which slowly buried the two buildings adjacent to the lighthouse.

The operation took 10 hours and cost just over $1million.