Île Vierge ( Breton language: ''Enez-Werc'h'') is a islet lying off the north-west coast of

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period o ...

, opposite the village of Lilia. It is in the commune of

Plouguerneau Plouguerneau (; ) is a commune in the Finistère department of Brittany in north-western France. International relations The commune is twinned with a number of villages in South East Cornwall, England, including: * St Germans, UK * Ti ...

, in the

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety- ...

Finistère Finistère (, ; br, Penn-ar-Bed ) is a department of France in the extreme west of Brittany. In 2019, it had a population of 915,090.

. It is the location of the tallest

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

lighthouse in Europe, and the tallest "traditional lighthouse" in the world. The

International Hydrographic Organization The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) is an intergovernmental organisation representing hydrography. , the IHO comprised 98 Member States. A principal aim of the IHO is to ensure that the world's seas, oceans and navigable waters ...

specifies Île Vierge as marking the south-western limit of the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" ( Cotentinais) or (Jèrriais), ( Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kan ...

History

About 1450, the

Conventual Franciscans The Order of Friars Minor Conventual (OFM Conv) is a male religious fraternity in the Roman Catholic Church that is a branch of the Franciscans. The friars in OFM CONV are also known as Conventual Franciscans, or Minorites. Dating back to ...

established an

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

on the island. The name "Île Vierge" probably comes from a

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common typ ...

dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 1507, the monks moved to Aber Wrac'h on the mainland. In 1844, the French state purchased the island from

sieur Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...

Goyon de Coëpel for 6,000

franc The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' (King of the Franks) used on early French coins and until the 18th centur ...

The lighthouses

The first lighthouse was a square tower high constructed in 1842–45. It started operation on 15 August 1845, feast day of the Assumption of the Virgin. It had a fixed white light visible for . It remained in use while the second lighthouse was under construction in 1896–1902. A

foghorn A foghorn or fog signal is a device that uses sound to warn vehicles of navigational hazards such as rocky coastlines, or boats of the presence of other vessels, in foggy conditions. The term is most often used in relation to marine transport. W ...

was installed in 1952, replaced in 1993 by an

electric beacon In navigation, a radio beacon or radiobeacon is a kind of beacon, a device that marks a fixed location and allows direction-finding equipment to find relative bearing. But instead of employing visible light, radio beacons transmit electromagnet ...

. The newer lighthouse is tall, made of blocks of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies und ...

. The external face is a truncated cone; the interior face is cylindrical, lined with 12,500 opaline glass tiles made by

Saint-Gobain Compagnie de Saint-Gobain S.A. () is a French multinational corporation, founded in 1665 in Paris and headquartered on the outskirts of Paris, at La Défense and in Courbevoie. Originally a mirror manufacturer, it now also produces a variety o ...

. There are five steps to the front door; inside, 360 steps of stone and 32 of iron lead to the lamp platform. The electric lamp was installed in 1952 on the original mechanical turning plate, sitting in a bath of mercury. The plate was replaced with an electric motor in 1983. The lamp has four lenses with a

focal length The focal length of an optical system is a measure of how strongly the system converges or diverges light; it is the inverse of the system's optical power. A positive focal length indicates that a system converges light, while a negative foca ...

of 0.5m. The twin beam gives a white flash every 5 seconds, visible for .

Electrical generator In electricity generation, a generator is a device that converts motive power (mechanical energy) or fuel-based power (chemical energy) into electric power for use in an external electrical circuit, circuit. Sources of mechanical energy include s ...

s were installed in 1959, supplemented in 1967–1994 by two

wind turbines A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. W ...

. The light and rotation are activated automatically by a

photoelectric sensor A photoelectric sensor is a device used to determine the distance, absence, or presence of an object by using a light transmitter, often infrared, and a photoelectric receiver. They are largely used in industrial manufacturing. There are three ...

. Although the lighthouse is automated, the site is still staffed. The island is open to the public from April to September, as is the lighthouse, by appointment. The number of visitors was 5,944 in 2003; 5,974 in 2004; 7,371 in 2005. Both lighthouses are a listed monument since 2011.

Notes

External links

*
Ile Vierge, the highest lighthouse in Europe
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ile Vierge Vierge Lighthouses in Brittany Lighthouses completed in 1845 Lighthouses completed in 1902 Landforms of Finistère Tourist attractions in Finistère Monuments historiques of Finistère Round towers

History

The lighthouses

See also

Notes

External links