2023-07-09 08:33:44
– The Cordouan Lighthouse, guardian of the Gironde Estuary
Located 8 km from the coast, this unique royal residence is sublime and mysterious. Do not miss this visit.
Posted today at 10:33 a.m.
The lighthouse can only be visited at low tide. A moment that offers a magical vision of this majestic building.
Gerald Cordonier
You can see it from afar, off the Pointe de Grave at the end of La Gironde or from Royan, on the Charente-Maritime side. At night from the top of its 67.5 meters, it sparkles offshore. The Cordouan Lighthouse is unique in Europe. Witness to more than 400 years of history, it was imagined by the kings of France as a prestigious object, placed on the Atlantic.
This worthy heir to the lighthouse of Alexandria was to amaze foreign sailors. It is the last still inhabited in France. We come to visit it, above all, because it owes its majestic silhouette to its status as a royal residence. Hard to believe that such a small Renaissance palace could exist 8 km from the coast. Its architecture makes it one of the most delicate monuments in the country. Its location, an excursion full of adventure.
Imagine! In the middle of hostile waters on a rocky islet at the mouth of the Gironde estuary, Henri III launched the construction of this monument in 1584, where a chapel had stood since 1360. According to legend, a hermit was in charge maintenance of the fire. Seven hundred years and a few building sites later, there are four guards who, even today, take turns in duo to watch, 7 days a week, winter and summer, on this massive building which guides cargo ships and sometimes continues to fill military missions when they are not related to biodiversity.
“We ensure a presence 365 days a year, with a rotation of one week on site, assures Benoît, 44 years old and titular keeper of the lighthouse which he “lives” since 2012. Our mission is to ensure a presence human. It has always been so! Even when the German army occupied the site during the Second World War, it did not leave the islet.
The man knows every nook and cranny of the building. Like his colleague Nicolas (45), he learned on the job. “Here, we live six months a year in boots, the other six months barefoot. We are the janitors, the electricians, the mechanics and… the tourist guides.”
Benôit and Nicolas, lighthouse keepers.
Gerald Cordonier
From April to October, the site is actually open for visits. Storming the lighthouse is an experience in itself. After a short hour in a speedboat, the disembarkation is done in small groups thanks to an amphibious barge which, over the waves, the sandbanks and the sea rocks, brings the visitors ashore. The operation takes forty-five minutes.
“Approaching Cordouan is never the same from one time to another, explains the captain. We only come there when the conditions are optimal, by monitoring, after 2-3 days of swell, the residual which can prevent the maneuver. Above all, people only come here at low tide. To facilitate navigation outside the Estuary.
To guarantee, on site, a suitable visit time. And engrave a little more in the memory the discovery of this magical place. Its slender tower is reflected in the basins of seawater on arrival. At the start, a race against time sets in with the rising waters closing in on the lighthouse and drowning the pier.
Two headlights in one
The building that we discover today is, in fact, the superposition of two lighthouses. Of the royal residence inaugurated in 1611, after twenty-seven years of work, only the first two floors remain. Inside, you will discover the majestic vault, a trace of the dome that crowned the building. Around 1786, this portion and its spire were replaced by a slender and massive tower erected to increase the light range of the installation.
In 1823, Fresnel installed an experimental lens there, the one that now bears his name and has equipped all the lighthouses on the planet, thanks to its ability to project its light ray very far. Today the range of Cordouan is about 19 miles.
Reaching the lantern requires effort and 301 steps. A climb which, once past the vestibule and its ingenious fountains where rainwater is collected, allows you to discover the king’s apartment – a state room which has, in fact, never been used by the slightest sovereign – , then the sumptuous Notre-Dame chapel.
Exterior view.
Gerald Cordonier
Cordouan is the only lighthouse in the world to have a place of worship, Henri IV’s desire to display his conversion to Catholicism for all to see. Gray marble floor, delicate sculptures, Corinthian pilasters, clams in the shape of shells… We understand why the restoration of the place requires the intervention of the best workers in France.
It is renovated at least twice a century. The last campaign lasted nine winters. It has just been completed, under the leadership of neighboring municipalities. Because if it has all the characteristics, Cordouan is not a national monument. It is a regional jewel which received the honors, in 2021, of being inscribed on the prestigious UNESCO World Heritage List. For the splendor of the first two floors but also for the various upper rooms which, via a surprising spiral staircase, allow the visitor to reach the wooden watch room and the lantern. “It has been automated since 2006 and, with GPS, the ships have gained in autonomy, observes Benoît. But the lighthouse retains its usefulness. And inspires all those who come to visit it.”
For centuries when the tide rises, the guardians of Cordouan leave visitors to isolate themselves behind the massive wall of the lighthouse.
Gerald Cordonier
For the keepers, it has become the epicenter of their lives. “A week without a breakdown does not exist. We live far from ours but we never get bored. And we learned to live differently, to the rhythm of the tides.” Not to mention the weather! When the storm is unleashed, gusts tumble down at 120 km/h.
And when the waters inevitably rise, the keepers take their leave of their visitors. Within minutes, their lighthouse will be surrounded by water, its walls smashed by the waves that have protected the central structure for centuries. And cradle the marine solitude of Cordouan.
The Cordouan lighthouse is served by two companies, one leaving from Verdon-sur-Mer, the other from Royan. Depart early in the morning, return 4 hours later. Price: from 45 to 63 euros, depending on the season and the starting point. www.pare-de-cordouan.fr
Discover other destinationsGerald Cordonier has been head of the Culture and Magazines section since 2017. Trained in the local section then in charge of Lausanne political news, he co-directed the Vaud and Regions section from 2010 to 2013. In 2010, he was nominated for the Swiss Prize of Journalism.More info
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