April 10, 1990
After more than a century of being staffed by keepers on a regular basis, Ar Men lighthouse in the part of the Atlantic Ocean marking the western end of France’s Brittany region was fully automated. This lighthouse is specifically situated within a vast area of reefs known as the Chaussée de Sein. Ar Men lighthouse owes its name to the rock upon which it stands. (Ar Men means “The Rock” in the Breton language.)
The urgent need for a lighthouse in that vicinity was formally acknowledged as far back as 1825, but construction on such a navigational aid did not actually begin until 1867. The efforts to build Ar Men lighthouse proved to be time-consuming and anything but easy, mainly due to the often turbulent waters there and the fact that the rock is entirely submerged at high tide. During the first year of construction alone, for example, workers were able to get on the rock only seven times altogether to drill holes for the foundation of the lighthouse. Ar Men lighthouse was finally inaugurated on August 30, 1881.
The comparatively remote location of this lighthouse, coupled with the rough waters surrounding it, made for a generally inhospitable environment for those individuals stationed there. “For the keepers, life in the lighthouse was very precarious,” wrote François-Xavier Richardou in an article published in Boating Culture magazine in 2023 “It was unheated, and for a long time was lit only by kerosene lamps . . . Relief was also often postponed due to difficult sea conditions.”
Many of the challenges involving Ar Men Lighthouse, though, have also served as a key source of literary inspiration over the years. The construction of this lighthouse, for example, was the framework for maritime novelist’s 1956 book A Fire is Lit on the Sea. In addition, renowned author Jean-Pierre Abraham’s 1968 book Amen focused on his tour of duty as a keeper at Ar Men lighthouse between 1959 and 1963.
In the time since the Ar Men lighthouse was automated, workers have been transported to it via helicopter once a year to perform routine maintenance tasks. This lighthouse was listed as a historic monument by the French Ministry of Culture in 2017.
Photo Credit: Jocelyn Caron (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en)
For more information on Ar Men Lighthouse, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ar_Men
Additional information on lighthouses in this region of France is available at https://www.ibiblio.org/lighthouse/fnsw.htm
Transportation History 
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