Petit Minou Lighthouse

{{Short description|Lighthouse in Finistère, France}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2019}}

{{Infobox lighthouse

| name = Petit Minou Lighthouse
Phare du Petit Minou

| image_name = Phare petit minou 600x800.JPG

| caption = The lighthouse in July 2004

| location = Goulet de Brest, Finistère, France

| coordinates = {{coord|48.336667|-4.614167|display=inline}}

| automated = 1989

| construction = granite tower

| shape = cylindrical tower with balcony and lantern

| marking = white tower the seaward side, red lantern

| yearbuilt = 1848

| height = {{convert|22|m|ft}}

| focalheight = {{convert|32|m|ft}}

| range = {{convert|19|nmi|km|abbr=on}}

| characteristic = Fl (2) W R 6s.

| country = France

| countrynumber = FR-0652

}}

The Petit Minou Lighthouse ({{lang|fr|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.{{cite rowlett|fns2|date=30 March 2014 |accessdate=5 July 2015}} 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").

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.