The whole huge area around Bordeaux and one of its magic outside the City is the lighthouse, Its time for me to tell you more of the area ,which is in the Gironde dept 33 of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of my belle France. These are old paper pictures found in my vault and should be in my blog. Therefore, I like to tell you about the Phare de Cordouan !!! Hope you enjoy the post as I.
The Phare de Cordouan lighthouse is located 7 km at sea on the Cordouan plateau, at the mouth of the Gironde estuary, an estuary formed by the confluence of the Garonne and the Dordogne rivers, giving in the Atlantic Ocean .It is off the town of Saint-Palais-sur-Mer, near Royan, and Pointe de Grave, on the territory of the town of Verdon-sur -Mer, It was built from 1584 to 1611,and is the oldest lighthouse in France still active. Sometimes called the “Versailles of the sea”, the “Lighthouse of Kings” or the “King of Lighthouses”,In 2006, the lighthouse was automated and computerized. There are only six gatekeepers left in France, who take turns here in pairs. The tower has six floors, spread out as such: (with credit help from wikipedia).
On the ground floor, a monumental portal gives access to the vestibule whose soil is made up of Barsac stone slabs, hence a staircase of 301 steps to access the top of the lighthouse (eight additional steps lead to the lantern and are inaccessible to visitors); On the first floor is the apartment called “King’s apartment”, although no king has ever come to stay there. It was only arranged until 1664 by Colbert, the Minister of Louis XIV. It is a vaulted piece, equipped with a real fireplace, paved with gray marble of Sainte-Anne and black marble of Belgium, decorated with pilasters with monograms of Louis XIV and Queen Marie-Thérèse; On the second floor is the Chapel Louis XIV, which is the most majestic piece of the lighthouse. It is surmounted by a vault pierced with eight berries richly decorated and paved with the same marble as the king’s apartment and that the Girondins room. The two stained glass windows, made at the time of the construction of the chapel and very damaged, were replaced and placed on August 1, 1855. Each year, nuptial blessings and baptisms are celebrated. The Cordouan lighthouse is the only one in the world to have a consecrated chapel; The third floor opens onto a large bright room, called “Girondins room” or “Bordeaux room”, paved with gray marble of Sainte-Anne and black marble of Belgium. From which one can observe the complex architecture of the tower and the large staircase which leads to the lantern; The fourth floor serves as a level, it bears the name of salle des contrepoids or counterweight room; The fifth is also a level, there is the pulley used to lift the fuel by the circular orifices. The room bears the name of salle des lampes or lamps room; Between the fifth and the sixth is the quarter or “Salle des Vailles” room, covered with a oak parquet, which was once garnished with two beds with alcoves for the use of guards; In the sixth, finally, is the lantern. Before electrification in 1948, the fuels were mounted there by means of a pulley, by the orifices of about a meter in diameter pierced in the center of each floor of the lighthouse.
Access is practically possible (with exceptions) only in mid-tide of downstream tide by a postern. The stone road which is discovered at that time leads to the potern. This is closed when the sea is high by means of a door with two solid oak leaves moving on bronze pivots. Visitors have landed from their boat remotely from the sand bench and are transhipable in small flat-bottomed rowing boats : they can run aground on the sand bench on the side of the pavement pavement. After having crossed the approximately 25 steps forward and behind the postern, visitors penetrate into the interior courtyard of the platform that surrounded by the guards, the machine rooms, and the commons.
A bit of history I like tell us that it was the installation of Father Étienne de Saint-Rigauld and the brother Prieur Ermenaud to withdraw from the world on the island of Cordouan is attested from the Middle Ages by the Charter of Cluny, dated 1088. The Cartulary of the Abbey de la Grande-Sauve dated 1092 mentions that the monks sounded a bell and lit a fire in the event of danger for sailors , The work requires the construction and the maintenance in continuous state of defenses in large stones of sparrows of wood all around the plateau to protect the workers’ city. This includes in particular, apart from the sites proper, a lime oven, workshops, carpentry, charronage, forge, accommodation for the engineer and up to fifty workers, food stores , a winery for wine, a wheat mill, a bread oven, and finally a stable for the six or seven horses which carries the materials, as well as a barn for their fodder When put into service, from its finished construction, the lighthouse consists of a small dome with eight bays closed with stained glass. In a pool placed on a bronze pedestal, wood is burned with pitch, oil and tar. The smoke is evacuated by a hollow pyramid 6.50 meters high. The lighthouse is located 37 meters above the highest seas.
The official Phare de Cordouan lighthouse : https://www.phare-de-cordouan.fr/en/home/
The Association of lighthouses of Cordouan and Grave : http://www.asso-cordouan.fr/general-information-3/
The Bordeaux tourist office on the Phare de Cordouan: https://www.bordeaux-tourism.co.uk/cultural-heritage/cordouan-lighthouse-historic-monument.html
The organism that manage the Cordouan lighthouse: Syndicat Mixte pour le Développement de l’Estuaire (SMIDDEST) : https://www.smiddest.fr/gestion-du-site-de-cordouan.html
There you go folks, another wonderful monument of my belle France, that is worth a detour me think. The Phare de Cordouan lighthouse is a wonderful spot to visit ,full of history and awesome architecture. Again, hope you enjoy this post as I.
And remember, happy travels, good health, and many cheers to all !!!
Paris1972-Versailles2003 