Cordouan was France's leading lighthouse – this Renaissance monument was built out in the ocean with royal funds supplied by Henri III and Henri IV. A project of the Bordeaux town councillors was transformed into a symbol of power, complete with chapel, King's Chamber, ornamentation, busts and statues. Cordouan revived the ambition of the rulers of Alexandria, whose lighthouse was an aid to navigation as well as a structure that perpetuated the glory of both its architect and those who commissioned it.