Cordouan Lighthouse: A Journey to the “Versailles of the Sea”

There are places that whisper history. And then there’s Cordouan Lighthouse—which sings it in salt and stone.

As a lighthouse lover, I’d admired their silhouettes against stormy skies. But standing inside Cordouan—France’s oldest active lighthouse, built between 1584 and 1611—was something else entirely. Rising 7 km offshore at the Gironde estuary, it’s not just functional; it’s a Renaissance masterpiece made for royalty, complete with marble, stained glass, a chapel, and a king’s apartment—earning its nickname as the “Versailles of the Sea”or the“Patriarch of Lighthouses”.