Le phare du Petit Minou est situé sur la commune française de Plouzané (département du Finistère), en avant du fort du Petit Minou que la route d'accès traverse. Il indique aux bateaux désirant se rendre à Brest la route à suivre pour entrer dans la rade. Il forme un alignement avec le phare du Portzic.
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185 m
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. It consists of 6m high masonry bastions, surrounded by a 3m deep and 9.5m wide moat.
Vauban completed the defences along the goulet and at this fort installed 240-mm cannons and a command post for directing fire and coordinating the defences' magazines. It was reinforced in the 18th and 19th centuries, with the phare du Petit Minou being added nearby in 1848. The fort was occupied in 1940 as a German blockhouse and after the point's liberation at the start of September 1944 the remains of a former hôtel were demolished. After losing its military purpose, the fort was acquired by the commune and opened to the public in October 2007.
445 m
Le Minou is the site of a popular surfing beach and a lighthouse at the entrance to Brest harbor in France. It is part of the commune of Plouzané, on the north side of the Goulet de Brest.
"Le Minou" means "pussy cat" in French. Le Minou is the site of the landfall of the first French transatlantic telegraph cable in 1869.
1.2 km
The military remains known as Fort de Toulbroc'h form part of the defences along the goulet de Brest in France, in the commune of Locmaria-Plouzané. They are accessible via coastal path GR34 to the pointe du Grand Minou.
The first buildings and batteries on the site date to 1884. They were occupied by the Germans and on 2 September 1944 60 men of the 5th Ranger Battalion took them in 6 minutes, capturing a German garrison of 5 officers and 237 men.
2.3 km
The fort du Mengant or fort du Léon in the commune of Plouzané is part of the defences of the roadstead of Brest. It is made up of a high battery, with a now-destroyed artillery tower, and a lower semi-circular battery at the foot of the cliff, with two small powder magazines.
Built by Vauban in 1684, it faces the batterie de cornouaille on the Roscanvel peninsula, built to the same model as the lower part of the fort du Mengant. The aim was to permit these two batteries, only just over 2 km apart, to bar entry to the roadstead. The original plans foresaw the completion of the defences by adding a battery in the middle of the goulet, on the Roche Mengant, but this proved impossible due to the tides and currents in the goulet.
Around 1875, the naval ministry built a dam up against the lower battery to create a small harbour in which to base motor torpedo boats, in order to adapt the fort to this evolution in warfare. The lower battery houses the annexe to the Centre Nautique des Equipages de la Marine, whilst the upper battery is now used for radar testing. An imposing ramp was built in the 1960s to link the port to the upper battery so that the largest pieces of radar equipment to be tested could be carried up to it from the port.
2.3 km
Déolen is a small coastal village in the commune of Locmaria-Plouzané in Brittany, France.
Déolen has a popular surfing beach. It is 12 kilometers from Brest and 21 kilometers from the Brest International Airport. It was the landfall of the French transatlantic telegraph cables.
En 2021, le phare est ouvert au public pendant la saison estivale, mais il est fermé en 2024 en raison de dégradations de sa structure. Le phare du Petit Minou a fait partie des dix-huit sites candidats au loto du Patrimoine 2025 . Le 2 juillet 2025, il remporte le Grand Prix du Patrimoine et Tourisme local de la Fondation du patrimoine et la commune reçoit une dotation de 100 000 € pour soutenir ses travaux de restauration.