The Petit Minou Lighthouse (Phare du Petit Minou) is a lighthouse in the roadstead of Brest, standing in front of the Fort du Petit Minou, in the commune of Plouzané. By aligning it with the Phare du Portzic, it shows the safe route to follow for ships to enter the roadstead.^[1] It also has a red signal that indicates a dangerous sector around the plateau of les Fillettes (literally "the girls"), one of the submerged rocks in the Goulet de Brest — sailors remember this by using the mnemonic "Le Minou rougit quand il couvre les Fillettes" ("the Minou blushes when he covers the girls").

Quick Facts Location, Coordinates ...

Petit Minou Lighthouse
Phare du Petit Minou

The lighthouse in July 2004
Location	Goulet de Brest, Finistère, France
Coordinates	48.336667°N 4.614167°W / 48.336667; -4.614167
Tower
Constructed	1848
Construction	granite tower
Automated	1989
Height	22 metres (72 ft)
Shape	cylindrical tower with balcony and lantern
Markings	white tower the seaward side, red lantern
Heritage	listed in the general inventory of cultural heritage
Light
Focal height	32 metres (105 ft)
Range	19 nmi (35 km)
Characteristic	Fl (2) W R 6s.
France no.	FR-0652

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Built between 1694 and 1697, the Fort du Petit Minou was a fort built in the commune of Plouzané in France to defend the goulet de Brest.

As part of the massive fortification campaign of France under the direction of the Marquis de Vauban, construction on the Fort du Petit Minou bastion was finished in 1697. Two hundred and forty cannons and a formidable moat helped protect a waterway leading to the military port town of Brest, on France's northwest coast. The waters offshore are notoriously treacherous, so in 1848, the Phare (lighthouse) du Petit Minou was added in front of the fort to aid navigation through the Goulet de Brest strait. It's one of dozens of lighthouses dotting the craggy, and infamously stormy, Brittany shores.

• List of lighthouses in France