Phare du Pilier, Maritime lighthouse in Noirmoutier-en-l'Île, France.
The Phare du Pilier stands on the Île du Pilier off Noirmoutier-en-l'Île as two stone towers side by side on a low white building with a red tiled roof. The left tower is cylindrical, 29.5 m high on a square base, with a flat railed top and a thin mast; the right tower is pyramidal, 30.2 m high, topped by a red-domed lantern with glass panes. Both are rough grey-brown masonry with small square windows in vertical rows.
The first lighthouse, a 29.5-metre cylindrical masonry tower on a square base, was built in 1829. In 1870 its lantern was converted to an oil burner, but the heat melted the lantern's solder joints, so a new tower was built. The second tower, a 30.2-metre pyramid-shaped rubble-stone structure, was lit in 1877. The lighthouse was automated in 1996 and is telecontrolled from Saint-Nazaire.
The two towers stand side by side on the Île du Pilier, a protected site of the Conservatoire du littoral. The cylindrical tower of 1829 now carries the old radio beacon on top, while the red-painted lantern of the later tower holds the active light. The lighthouse was listed as a monument historique on 2 December 2011 and classified on 3 October 2012.
The lighthouse beacon has been automated since 1996 and is now remotely controlled from the Saint-Nazaire station. Visitors can view the towers from the outside, though interior access is generally not available.
The cylindrical tower of 1829 now carries the old radio beacon on top, while the 1877 pyramidal tower holds the red-painted main lantern. The two towers stand only metres apart, with the former keepers' quarters and technical rooms between them.
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