The lighthouse of Gravelines

The Gravelines lighthouse is located in Petit-Fort Philippe, where the Aa River joins the North Sea. The town owes its name to a fort that protected the entrance to the channel in the 17th century, Fort Saint-Philippe, named after the King of Spain, Philip II. At the time, the city was not yet French and had to defend itself against various enemies.

Built between 1837 and 1841 and commissioned in 1843, the lighthouse is recognizable by its black and white spiral painted in 1931, which earned it the nickname "Black and White" almost a century after its creation. At its foot is the house where the guards and their families lived.

The last keeper, Maurice Bienaimé, considered the lighthouse as his "corner of paradise". He lived in the house with his wife and 8 children, the family even stayed there until his death (in 2002) when he retired in 1985 and the lantern of the lighthouse died out definitively in 1979.