Panel 5: The Saint-Louis Lighthouse

The Saint-Louis Lighthouse

In the 17th century, the engineer Paul Riquet was seeking an outlet to the Mediterranean for the Canal du Midi. At the same time, King Louis XIV needed to establish a roadstead to shelter the royal galleys from the storms of the Gulf of Lion, and a port for exporting produce from the Languedoc… Commissioned by Minister Colbert, the Chevalier de Clerville, the king’s engineer, identified the Cap de Sète, which had until then been uninhabited, as the most suitable site for the creation of a port…

Work began on 29 July 1666 with the construction of the Saint-Louis breakwater, which still protects the entrance to the old harbour today and on which stands the lighthouse of the same name. Completed around 1680, the pier was fitted with a simple lantern to signal the harbour entrance to ships.

The storm of October 1683 swept away the breakwater’s square jetty and its lantern. All that remains is a small stone islet, still visible today, known as an ‘estron’ or ‘pilon’. A new, rounded breakwater, facing north-east, was topped by a bastion with a battery of cannons. A round lighthouse tower was rebuilt immediately, rising to a height of 14 metres. At that time, the lighthouse was lit using wood and coal. It was not until the 1690s that it switched to oil lighting.

The storm of October 1683 swept away the square breakwater and its lighthouse. All that remains is a small stone islet, still visible today, known as an ‘estron’ or‘pilon’. A new, rounded breakwater, facing north-east, was topped by a bastion with a battery of cannons. A round lighthouse tower was rebuilt immediately, rising to a height of 14 metres. At that time, the lighthouse was lit by wood and coal. It was not until the 1690s that it switched to oil lighting.

Around 1720, a new square tower, 18 metres high, was erected within the fort’s walls. Restored several times, it was raised to a height of 25 metres.

In 1771, this lighthouse became the first in France to be fitted with a tall glass lantern housing an oil lamp.

In 1861, a new tower was built based on Léonce Reynaud’s design: it was cylindrical, constructed from Cassis cut stone, and stood 30 metres high. This height remained exceptional in France for a lighthouse of this kind. Its architecture is in the neoclassical style, with a portal featuring a triangular pediment. A new Fresnel lens increased its range. In 1902, its range was extended to 25 nautical miles when the oil lamps were replaced by kerosene lighting.

In 1933, the lighthouse was electrified.

Between 1935 and 1944, the Saint-Louis lighthouse was fitted with a radio beacon. This wireless communication device enabled a signal to be sent to ships equipped with radio direction finders to compensate for poor visibility on foggy days.

On 19 August 1944, 80 per cent of the port’s facilities, including this lighthouse, the old square tower and the surrounding buildings, were destroyed during the bombings. Reconstruction, faithful to the original design and on the same site, took 18 months. The current Saint-Louis lighthouse has been in operation since 1949.

The Lighthouse Today

Today, it is simply a circular harbour entrance light. The tower, built of cut stone, measures 6.50 metres in diameter at its base and 4.75 metres at its summit, which rises to a height of 33.5 metres – or 35.85 metres above sea level. Its construction required 2,297 stones, amounting to 310 m³. The stone used is Jurassic limestone, quarried in Frontignan, which is used throughout the lighthouse, except for the first three courses of the shaft, which are made of Cassis stone – the sole remnant of the previous lighthouse, destroyed in 1944.

It has 14 windows – 12 in the shaft and 2 in the keepers’ quarters – as well as a spiral staircase with 94 steps and two ladders.

This lighthouse was designed by the engineers Deymie and Molo and built by the local firms Guinet and Mazza.
It is a third-order harbour light with a steady beam, flashing four times every 12 seconds in red and white, with a range of 15 nautical miles, or 28 kilometres.
The lamp is a solar-powered halogen lamp. Engraved on the base of the lighthouse facing the sea are these lines by Paul Valéry: ‘Its shifting gaze mingles the flashes of peril with the laughing water and the fickle dance of the waves.’

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