Tourism Brittany outraged - lighthouse to lose striking beacon
The most important of the 52 lighthouses on the coast of Brittany, the Créac'h lighthouse, is to lose its historic beacon and lose its radiance. It is the most powerful lighthouse in Europe to date.
12.01.2025, 06:30
SDA
The prefecture of the Finistère department announced a few days ago that the lighthouse would have to be converted to an alternative, modern lighting technology because mercury is still used for the light optics, which is hazardous to health.
The initiators of the petition "Save the Créac'h lighthouse", which more than 10,000 people have already signed within a few days, are outraged that the maritime administration is planning to downgrade the lighthouse, which was built in 1863 and currently has a range of 59 kilometers.
Instead of the large historic beacon, a smaller beacon with a range of only 35 kilometers would be installed, with a range of only 3.7 kilometers in poor visibility. Shipping on the island of Ouessant, where the tower is located, would be put at risk. 54,000 ships pass the island every year.
Lighting technology was exhibited at the 1937 World Exhibition
Friends of the lighthouse are also concerned about its unique technology. "The costly installation of an industrial light would mean that the existing light, a historic object that was exhibited at the 1937 World's Fair in Paris and whose efficiency is still unsurpassed, would have to be mutilated," the petition continues.
As was customary with lighthouses in the past, the rotating optics of the Créac'h lighthouse float on a tank of mercury. "The industrial solution cannot reproduce the eight-beam, slowly rotating signal that characterizes this unique beacon," the petition states.
Authorities want to talk to the population
"The most powerful lighthouse in Europe, the most prestigious and important, considering the function of its overpowering beacon for decades, threatens to be transformed into a tourist attraction, insulting all the sailors of the world, the inhabitants of Ouessant and the coast," said former lighthouse keeper Louis Cozan, as reported by the newspaper "Le Parisien". "The Créac'h lighthouse was not listed because of its black and white paint, but because of what it has been every night for decades: a victory against the darkness!"
The Finistère department, probably surprised by the protest, points out that modernization work has already been carried out on five lighthouses in the region since 2015. At the end of the month, the nautical commission wants to discuss the Creac'h lighthouse and the cultural heritage of the structure with the local population.
