The Old Sulina Lighthouse is mentioned for the first time in an old Ottoman document which says that it was built at the initiative of Beshir Agha in 1745. In 1856 the lighthouse was rebuilt from the foundations by the Ottomans, and between 1869-1870 it was modernized by the European Commission of Danube. Located at the end of the north breakwater of the Sulina Canal, shaped like a circular metal tower raised on a carved stone base, the lighthouse is 13.7m high and operated until 1920 when work began to extend the breakwaters from the mouth of the Sulina Canal.

The old lighthouse in Sulina was used in the 70s for the filming of the Romanian series Toate pânzele sus!.