Saint-Mathieu Lighthouse

About

The Saint-Mathieu Lighthouse is a lighthouse located on Pointe Saint-Mathieu in Plougonvelin, around Brest in Finistère. The lighthouse is open to the public. Saint-Mathieu was built in 1835 among the ruins of the ancient Abbaye Saint-Mathieu de Fine-Terre. It is a major lighthouse of the French coast, with a theoretical range of 29 nautical miles (around 55 km). Along with the Kermorvan Lighthouse, it signals the direction of the Chenal du Four, which transient ships used to follow on a north-south axis before the creation of the Rail d'Ouessant. Saint-Mathieu's alignment with the Portzic Lighthouse also indicates the route for entrance to the Goulet de Brest. It was classified as a monument historique on 23 May 2011.

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.