THE FOG LIGHTS
SAINT-MATHIEU LIGHTHOUSE
: CAN BE VISITED
Rich in its past, its nature, its heritage, the Pointe Saint-Mathieu site is one of the most pleasant places for walks and visits where the GR34 and the Iroise marine natural park rub shoulders, the abbey built from of the 11th century, its museum and lighthouse, the National Memorial to sailors lost at sea and the semaphore. After climbing the 163 steps, the panorama is a real reward. The current lighthouse has been on since 1835. 37 m high, its white light illuminates the ocean every 15 seconds. With a range of 29 miles, it indicates the route to follow to enter the Brest gully. Electrified in 1937, it was automated in 1996. Its last keeper left the premises in 2006. The Saint-Mathieu lighthouse has been listed as a historical monument since November 2010.
THE PETIT MINOU LIGHTHOUSE
Its extraordinary lights and maritime view make the site of Le Minou, in Plouzané, a very popular place for walkers, hikers and geocachers. At the top of these cliffs which dominate the beach of Petit Minou, a very popular spot for local surfers, you can breathe a great breath of fresh air and admire the movements of ships entering or leaving the harbor of Brest.
The emblematic lighthouse of Brest and our Lighthouses Route opens its doors this summer! Indeed, from July 1 to September 5, 2021, this lighthouse which watches over the entrance to the Brest harbor will be open to the public from Wednesday to Sunday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. (visit rates at the bottom of the page).
KERMORVAN LIGHTHOUSE
Aligned with the Lochrist, Trézien and Saint-Mathieu lighthouses, it indicates the Helle and Four channels. Its construction and its lighting were supervised in 1849 by Louis Plantier, talented chief engineer of the Lighthouses and Beacons of Finistère.
Twenty years later, the need in foggy weather to make the south-west end of the Kermorvan peninsula 'visible' became clear.
ECKMÜHL LIGHTHOUSE
Located at the tip of Penmarc'h, it was inaugurated in 1897, its construction was made possible thanks to the gift of the Marquise de Blocqueville, the daughter of the Marshal of the Empire Davout, named Prince of Eckmühl following the victory of a Napoleonic battle. Noble materials were used during its construction. From its summit, it offers a breathtaking view of the entire Bay of Audierne.
THE TOULINGUET LIGHTHOUSE
The tip of Toulinguet has always had an operational value for men. During prehistory people took refuge there as in a natural bastion. Vauban in 1695, quickly understood that this rocky outcrop bordering the Brest gully must be a battery of 6 guns. In times of peace, the tip of Toulinguet is useful to receive a semaphore built in 1952. Under the lighthouse the caves of Toulinguet. North side, on the beach, gray seals sometimes bask!
THE PYRAMID LIGHTHOUSE
Built in 1872, 48 meters high, the lighthouse takes its name from a pyramid of stones, used in alignment with a rock in the shape of a rooster. Like all lighthouses in Brittany, today it has been automated since 1993. In addition, it is visible from the Glénan archipelago, 20 km from the mainland!
Overlooking the bay, emblem of the seaside resort, it offers walkers one of the most beautiful panoramas of Bénodet.
PONTUSVAL LIGHTHOUSE
Like a white seagull facing out to sea and scanning the horizon, the small Pontusval lighthouse was lit for the first time on September 15, 1869. Built to warn of the danger of the reefs bordering the Côte des Légendes, it is the relay between the Île Vierge lighthouse and the Île de Batz lighthouse. A quick calculation: 1869/2019... the lighthouse is proudly 150 years old! It has been listed as a Historic Monument since 2011.
TREZIEN LIGHTHOUSE
Built in granite from the banks of the Aber Ildut river, the Trézien lighthouse secures navigation in the Four channel. After climbing its 182 steps, you will reach an unforgettable panorama of the Molène archipelago and the island of Ouessant. Its fire has a range of 20 miles (32 km).
KEREON LIGHTHOUSE
Lighthouse at sea built southeast of the island; 3 km south-east of the island of Ouessant, in the Passage du Fromveur (very violent current, which can reach 16 km per hour, whose Breton name means "great fear"), Kéréon is built on the pitfall of Men Tensel, "the surly stone".
Started in 1907, its construction was able to continue in extreme conditions, thanks to a donation from the descendants of Charles-Marie Le Drall de Kéreon.
THE PARTRIDGE TURRET
A visual symbol of Loctudy and Ile-Tudy, the Perdrix turret is located at sea at the entrance to the fishing port of Loctudy, to signal a dangerous rock for ships. Simple wooden mast in 1872 then light beacon in 1886. It was in 1889 that the current 17.40 m turret was erected. It began to operate in 1918. First painted red, it was covered with its famous black and white checkerboards in 1947.
BLACK ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE
This large pebble, 60 m by 12 m, has been surmounted by a lighthouse since 1845. Today uninhabited, it was inhabited until 1938 (also the date of the release of the first edition of Hergé's album) . Its square tower, built with local materials (granite from Cléder and Stérec Island, sand from the Bay of Morlaix, etc.), is 13 meters high.
THE BLACK STONES LIGHTHOUSE
After some hesitation over the choice of location, the lighthouse was built between 1867 and 1872 on "La Grande Pierre Noire", a rock located in the Iroise Sea, west of Pointe Saint-Mathieu, on the edge of a formidable string of islets, reefs and shoals: the Chaussée des Pierres Noires, from which it takes its name and which it will mark out and secure from now on.
THE TEVENNEC LIGHTHOUSE
Completed in 1874, most of its keepers were alternately stricken with either brutal death or madness. Henri Guézennec, first keeper of the lighthouse, certainly did not know it: the rock of Tévennec, well before sheltering a lighthouse, was already known in the surroundings as the witness of tragic events. The cause ? A tenacious myth according to which a shipwrecked man died of starvation on the rock despite his attempts to call for help from the boats passing nearby.
THE LIGHTHOUSE OF THE MARE
The Jument lighthouse bears his name for being erected on the reef of Ar-Gazeg (La Jument in Breton). It is built at the entrance to Fromveur, a passage between Ouessant and the Molène archipelago. The choice of its location was validated to create a route from lighthouse to lighthouse avoiding pitfalls.
NIVIDIC LIGHTHOUSE
24 years of construction in perilous conditions allow the Ile d'Ouessant to have an additional lighthouse. Workers and materials were transported via a cable car system.
The Nividic beacon tower was controlled from the Le Créac'h lighthouse in Ouessant before its modernization. It is the first automated lighthouse at sea.
AR-MEN LIGHTHOUSE
Ar-Men (in Breton "the stone") is a Lighthouse "at sea". Like Kéréon, the Old Woman or the Mare, Ar-Men is difficult to access. The farthest from the earth, isolated at the end of the Chaussée de Sein (Finistère), Ar-Men was nicknamed by its guardians, the Hell of the underworld.
Ar-Men Lighthouse is one of the best known lighthouses, due to its isolated nature.
VIRGIN ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE
In Plouguerneau, the Île Vierge lighthouse is a precious landmark for sailors. Virgin Island, located 1.5 km from the coast, actually hosts two lighthouses. The first lighthouse built in 1845, 33 meters high, had a range of 18 miles, which is clearly insufficient considering the large number of reefs present along our coastline and the danger they represent.
THE CREAC'H LIGHTHOUSE
One of the most powerful lighthouses in the world... It's the cut between the English Channel and the Atlantic. Identifiable by its 55m high tower (75m above sea level), with white and black stripes, it guides the entry of boats into the English Channel. Lit in 1863, electrified in 1888, equipped with a flashlight in 1901 and xenon lamps in 1971, the Créac'h, which means "promontory" in Breton, is one of the most powerful lighthouses in the world.
THE PENFRET LIGHTHOUSE
The Penfret lighthouse is located at the northeastern end of the Glénan archipelago, at the northern end of the island of Penfret.
The lighthouse is a square tower surmounting a main building in exposed stone masonry.
The whole is built inside an old fort. The former keepers' quarters are located 300 meters from the lighthouse.
THE ISLAND OF SEIN LIGHTHOUSE
The Grand Phare de l'île de Sein was built at the northwestern tip of the island of Sein, in Finistère, between 1950 and 1951 and replaced a first lighthouse built in 1839 and destroyed in 1944 during the Second World War. . Listed as a Historic Monument in 2015, it saw its guards leave it in December 2015, even though it had already been automated for 15 years.
THE STIFF LIGHTHOUSE
The first lighthouse built on the island… Le Phare du Stiff. One of the oldest lighthouses in France still in operation, the Phare du Stiff was built on the highest point of the island (60 m). Following a visit in August 1685, Vauban proposed the construction of a defensive tower which would signal the dangers in the northwest of Brest.
THE LIGHTHOUSE OF THE ISLAND OF BATZ
Built in 1836, the lighthouse offers a splendid panorama of the island and its surroundings. Culminating at 44 meters in height, the lighthouse on the island of Batz has 198 steps.