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Origin and history

The Coubre lighthouse, located in La Tremblade in Charente-Maritime, was built at the beginning of the 20th century to secure access to the Gironde estuary, a dangerous maritime area marked by sand banks and violent currents. Its reinforced concrete construction, a first in France for a lighthouse, responds to the urgent need to replace previous buildings destroyed by erosion and storms, including a 57-metre stone tower collapsed in 1907. The current 64-metre lighthouse was commissioned in 1905 and became an essential navigational landmark with a 52-km range.

The lighthouse is automated and managed from La Rochelle, but it remains a major tourist site, open from February to November. Its interior, tiled with 7,500 blue dopaline tiles, houses a metallic staircase designed according to the plans of Gustave Eiffel. A museum, inaugurated in 2005 for its centenary, traces the history of local lighthouses and exhibits maritime objects, lenses and ancient mechanisms. The site, classified as a historic monument in 2011, attracts more than 55,000 annual visitors.

Threatened by coastal erosion, the lighthouse is only 150 metres from the ocean in 2018, compared to the original 1,800 metres. Despite renovations, such as its painting in 2016 with a ton of specially hardened paint, its durability is uncertain. Preventive demolition is even envisaged. The lighthouse also houses a secondary fire, "the barbette", signalling the dangers of sandbanks to navigators.

The tip of the Coubre, where it is located, marks the boundary between the Gironde estuary and the Atlantic Ocean, an area known for its shipwrecks. The lighthouse plays a key role in bypassing shoals, such as the Bad Bank, where currents and wrecks make navigation perilous. Its architecture, with a bronze lantern and a copper dome decorated with lion heads, makes it a remarkable example of the French maritime heritage.

Since 2005, events such as the "Extreme 300" race (ascent of the 300 steps) have animated the site. The approaches, renovated in 2016, include an accessible picnic area and landscaped mountains. A restaurant truck offers local specialities in summer, strengthening its tourist attraction. The lighthouse symbolizes both human ingenuity in the face of maritime challenges and the fragility of the coastline in the face of erosion.

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