Cordouan ! The pride of the Gironde and the oldest lighthouse in France. Long ago, there was a rocky outcrop which linked the lighthouse to the Grave headland. Now the link is barely visible at low tide and Corduan's isolation adds to the magnifience of its architecture. For four hundred years, its light has shone 40 km out into the open sea. The Cordouan lighthouse and Notre Dame de Paris were the first two monuments to be classified as historical monuments in 1862 at the requested of Mérimée !