Petit Minou Lighthouse, Lighthouse in Plouzané, Finistère, France

Petit Minou Lighthouse is a cylindrical grey granite and kersantite tower 26 metres tall, standing 36 metres above the sea on a rocky outcrop in front of the Fort du Petit Minou, in Plouzané. Four narrow windows run down its shaft, with a fifth near the top, and a glass lantern room with a domed red roof crowns it. A short walkway links it to an arched stone bridge, and the former navy semaphore tower stands beside it.

Vauban had a fort built on the point between 1692 and 1697. A ministerial decision of 24 April 1839 approved the lighthouse; Léonce Reynaud designed it, inspired by Breton castle towers, and Louis-Joseph Plantier supervised the works. The tower mixes granite from Aber-Ildut with kersantite from Daoulas quarries, and the light was lit in 1848.

The lighthouse aligns strategically with Portzic lighthouse to guide ships through Brest harbor's entrance channel. Its distinctive light pattern helped sailors identify their exact position when entering the port.

Parking is available uphill from the lighthouse, offering good viewing points of the structure from the land. The site itself is currently closed to visitors, but the surrounding coastline provides excellent vantage points to observe it.

In the 1920s, engineer André Coyne developed an innovative system near the lighthouse that harnessed wave power through an artificial funnel for air compression. This early experiment with wave energy was far ahead of its time.