Sémaphore de Roche-Maurice, Scenic viewpoint and work of art in Saint-Herblain, France

The Sémaphore de Roche-Maurice is a sculpture by Vincent Mauger on Île de la Liberté in Saint-Herblain, near Nantes, built as a lookout over the Loire. It belongs to a series of five semaphore sculptures placed along the river between Nantes and Saint-Nazaire. Its narrow staircase leads to a small platform where visitors look through the structure toward the estuary.

The semaphore sculptures belong to a riverside development scheme linking Nantes and Saint-Nazaire. Roche-Maurice itself was a fishing hamlet on a rocky spur of the Loire, whose residents lived off the river and its foreshore. Road building and the Cheviré bridge, opened in 1991, progressively cut the hamlet off from the water and the city.

The name "semaphore" refers to an old system for sending visual signals over long distances using flags or moving arms. The sculpture on Île de la Liberté picks up on this idea, inviting visitors to look through it toward the Loire from a new angle.

The sculpture stands on Île de la Liberté, reached on foot or by bicycle from the Nantes–Saint-Nazaire riverbank paths; the approach is unsurfaced and can be muddy. The Loire here is tidal, and winter or heavy rain can flood low-lying parts of the island, so check conditions before setting out.

The work belongs to Vincent Mauger's series of five semaphores set along the Loire between Nantes and Saint-Nazaire, each placed to frame a different stretch of the estuary. Its narrow stair and small platform mean only a few people can stand at the top at once, so the view is shared rather than crowded.