The iconic bell tower building at Pemaquid Point Light in Bristol stands with makeshift supports on Jan. 11, 2024, a day after being pummeled by damaging winds and waves from powerful winter rainstorms. Robert F. Bukaty/Associated Press, file

Maine’s lighthouses have been added to a global list of monuments and cultural sites facing major challenges or threats, including from the effects of climate change.

World Monuments Watch released its annual list of heritage sites that are threatened by a variety of forces, ranging from neglect to wars to flooding and extreme weather driven by climate change.

The historic lighthouses of Maine made the 2025 list along with 24 other sites, including a Buddhist monastery in Mongolia, a historic site damaged by bombs in Ukraine and the war-torn urban centers of Gaza.

The organization’s listing includes 66 lighthouses built between 1791, when Portland Head Light became the first beacon along the coast, and 1910.

Of those, 57 still guide sailors using automated light systems, although ownership of the lighthouses has been transferred to local and state government agencies, nonprofits and private individuals.

Waves crash against the rocks near the Portland Head Light in Cape Elizabeth on Sept. 15, 2023. Michael Dwyer/Associated Press, file

Some have been converted into private residences, educational institutions, museums or parks, drawing tourists who help support the coastal economy.

“However, a changing climate presents mounting challenges for the state’s lighthouses,” the organization’s website says. “The Gulf of Maine is one of the fastest-warming ocean regions on Earth, warming at triple the global rate. Purposefully built on islands and low-lying peninsulas, these light stations are extremely vulnerable to rising sea levels and storm surge.”

Last winter, coastal storms intensified by rising sea levels damaged multiple lighthouses, including Portland Head Light in Cape Elizabeth and Pemaquid Point Lighthouse in Bristol.