Mont Saint Michel Full Guide - Normandy, France - Travel & DIscover

For centuries, Mont Saint-Michel and its breathtaking bay have exercised a powerful attraction. Home to both a famous pilgrimage center and a thriving Benedictine abbey, its long history is closely intertwined with that of Normandy and France. The monastery perches on a rock, isolated in the middle of the bay, protected by the incessant ebb and flow of the tides. Constructed as a place of monastic prayer, the magnificent buildings crowning the rock trace the evolution of Romanesque and Gothic architecture, and together constitute a unique testimony to the civilization of the Middle Ages. This wonder of the Western world forms a tower in the heart of an immense bay. Legend has it that Aubert, Bishop of Varenches, built and consecrated a small church in 709 at the request of the Archangel Michael. In 966, a community of Benedictines settled on the rock at the request of the Duke of Normandy, and the pre-Romanesque church was built before the end of the first millennium. In the 11th century, the Romanesque abbey church was established upon a set of crypts where the rock comes to an apex, and the first monastery buildings were constructed up against its northern wall. Mont Saint-Michel owes its form partly to the 40,000 hectare bay from which it rises. Three small coastal rivers, the Seine, the Couesnant, and the Seine-Lune flow into it, tracing wide meanders that change course with the tides. At times, land, sea, and sky dissolve together into a uniform slate gray haze. The bay is raked by Europe's strongest tides. In the 14th and 15th century, a remarkable development of defensive military architecture, including thick walls, ramparts, towers, and bastions, was constructed around the monastery. The ramparts were designed as a response to new developments in warfare resulting from the recent introduction of the cannon. Until that time, ramparts had to be very high and reinforced by even higher towers. In order to capture this circular fortification perched on a sheer rock, the enemy would have had to scale the walls or pass under them. During the Hundred Years' War between England and France in the 15th century, 110 horses from Mont Saint-Michel added a glorious chapter to the history of the western wonder. The solidity of the monastery's defenses, together with the help of the tides, disrupted enemy offensives, putting an end to the 25,000-strong English army and to a siege that had lasted 30 years. The heroic resistance of Mont Saint-Michel to English attack during the Hundred Years' War made it a symbol of French national identity. In a new era of warfare, towers and curtain walls were kept fairly low so as to offer a smaller target for artillery. The chalet, or half-moon tower, guarded a post on gate, which has since been covered over. The Basque Tower replaced an older bastion. The Beatrix Tower, also known as the Tour de la Liberté, has a horseshoe design, allowing for a wider range of fire. The Arcade Tower is the only tower to have retained its original roof timbers, and together with the neighboring King's Tower, conforms to the traditional circular plan. The famous golden statue of the Archangel Saint-Michel, created by the sculptor Fermier, completes the edifice, which towers 188 meters above its foundations. The stones used to build the abbey were brought by boat from nearby quarries, then hauled up the steep slope by ropes and sheer human strength. This strenuous undertaking took centuries but paid off beautifully. Nestled between the ramparts and the abbey, the mound's small village turned to commerce to make its livelihood. The inhabitants who settled on the rock beginning in the 10th century undoubtedly included fishermen, but the majority of them sold souvenirs or kept inns, their fortunes rising and falling with the mound's reputation as a place of pilgrimage. The entire bay, site of Europe's most powerful tides, lies spread out around the base of the abbey, providing a stupendous panorama that combines the prodigious accomplishments of medieval architecture, forces of nature, and ever-changing light. The abbey's main entrance leads to the courtyard of the Avancée. Two large cannons captured from the English in 1434 have been preserved in the courtyard. In about 1525, Lieutenant Dupuy added new forward gate beyond the boulevard, known as the Avancée, in order to fortify the entrance to the village. It consisted of a triangular courtyard surrounded by a wall with two openings. The 14th century arch of the king's gate is equipped with a portcullis and machicolations. It is preceded by a moat over which a drawbridge, rebuilt in 1992, can be lowered. It was called the king's gate because it also housed the officer responsible for guarding it on behalf of the French king. The ramparts were built in order to protect the city and also served to defend the abbey. This extraordinary and perfectly preserved group of defenses is one of the finest and most important achievements of medieval military architecture. Magnificent views over the bay and its impressive tides can be had by strolling around the ramparts of Mont Saint-Michel. At Mont Saint-Michel, the relationship between architecture and environment is exceptionally rich. Since 1979, the bay has been classified by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The image and worldwide fame of the bay are strongly related to the quality of the landscape that forms the unmistakable silhouette of Mont Saint-Michel. Even before the start of the Hundred Years War, the mount had a special significance for the French kings who frequently came here on pilgrimage. In exchange for spiritual protection, these royal visits were also a confirmation of dynastic continuity. These visits often provided the donations necessary for the completion of the abbey buildings. The single street that traverses the village is lined with thriving businesses. Many of the houses were rebuilt during the Belle Epoque in response to the demands of modern tourism. Few 15th and 16th century examples have survived. The narrow Grand Rue cobblestone street circles up to the monastery in three steep spirals. It is bordered at its lowest level by houses that have survived from the 15th and 16th centuries. Wooden tiled and slate roofs, colored facades, wood, plaster, and rock, balconies, window baskets, and classic shopfronts create a patchwork of history and color. The delicate pathways of the mount gradually slope upwards as narrow alleyways snake around the houses, gradually leading to the imposing walls of the abbey. During the Hundred Years War, the abbots concentrated their efforts on building defenses. Pierre le Roi erected the Perinieria Tower to house the Monts garrison. He fortified the entrance to the abbey with the Châtelet, a narrow construction flanked by two tall corbelled turrets faced with alternate courses of blue and white granite and crowned with crenellations reaching as far as the mount. The Châtelet gate itself was defended by machicolations and a portcullis that prevented access to the staircase known as the gouffre or the abyss which led up to the abbey. The defensive complex offered an impregnable obstacle to any assailant who might succeed in penetrating the defenses of the village and reaching the great outer staircase. The Châtelet gate offers a vertiginous view of the bay. The paucity of available space forced builders to move ever upwards, climbing towards the sky. The whole complex, measuring 80 meters across, took 17 years to build and was completed in 1228. This wonder of the art of construction was a remarkable challenge. Over and above the technical skills of their builders, each room of the merveille served a specific function in the organization of the monastery. The spectacular quality of its architecture is a major element in the fascination exercised by this palace of the archangel. The Grande Aigre, a wide flight of stairs leading between the sheer walls of the compound and those of the abbey, rises almost 20 meters to the gargoyles that crown it. Arched walkways join the higher levels and gothic windows adorn the spaces between the buttresses. The great staircase leads up to the western terrace with the entrance to the abbey's church. Opening onto the terrace is the church whose present facade, added in 1780, has a very simple design. Two tiers of columns surmounted by a triangular pediment harmonize relatively successfully with the Romanesque architecture that dominates the rest of the building. The church sits on the highest point of the island, a space it shares with the large terrace, offering sweeping views over the surrounding area, over the open sea to the north and west, and across the green pastures of Normandy to the south and east. From the west terrace, which serves as a parvis to the abbey church, a superb view over the bay extends from the Pointe des Grains in Brittany to the Pointe des Gaules in Normandy, with small coastal rivers meandering across immensities of sand. The color of the sand and sea are in constant flux, reflecting the sky like a great mirror. The terrace was enlarged after the fire of 1776, after which the abbey monks were forced to demolish the first three bays of the church's nave. Although the bay may appear welcoming, tempting walkers onto its sands, its exceptional tides make it perilous. The sea surges into the bay on an incoming tide at an average speed of 3.7 kilometers per hour, and in certain places and times it can move considerably faster. The abbey's capitular or chapter room was an essential part of the monks' daily life. It was the place where the monks would gather every day to hear a chapter of Saint Benedict's rule read aloud, and to take decisions on all important matters affecting the monastery. In the 15th century, the monastery had two chapter rooms, known as the chapter and the little chapter. The construction of the abbey church was begun by Abbot Hildebert in 1023, to replace an earlier edifice that had been destroyed by fire. Inside, the chancellor choir of the abbey church is one of the most elegant surviving examples of the late Gothic flamboyant style. A regular crossing is flanked by transepts built over deep vaulted crypts. These two-story constructions are covered by a barrow vault, attributed to the 11th century architect Raoul. A series of low twin bays are housed beneath relieving arches. The church possesses a chancel in the Gothic style and a Romanesque nave. The chancel was begun in 1446 with the construction of the Crypte des Grands Piliers, or Crypt of the Massive Pillars, that was not completed until 1521. Arcades, triforium, and cloistery windows are superimposed, their height accentuated by a multiplicity of vertical lines, and the tall, narrow proportion of the arches. The main arcade is formed of pillars which are rhomboidal in section, made up of clusters of slender, molded colonnettes that rise right up into the apex of the arches. Some of them soar 25 meters into the vaulting itself. The walkway in the triforium passes behind and through the pillars. Light floods in through the impressively high cloistery windows, highlighting the molding of the masonry. Despite severe restrictions in terms of space, the architect succeeded in opening up seven chapels off the aisles and ambulatory. With its ambulatory, the building conforms to a pattern typical of Norman architecture before 1050. The Romanesque church consists of a combination of complex forms. During the 11th century, the rise of powerful dynasties, including the Ottoman, Capetian, and Norman, together with the growth in popularity of pilgrimages to both Compostela and Saint-Michel, conspired to encourage new building, and along with it, new development in architecture. A new concept of the nature of the supporting structure served to receive the weight of the vaulting. The Sanctuary of the Monts lay in the hands of the Benedictine monks from 966 to 1790. In the monastery's heyday in the 12th century, under Abbot Robert de Tourigny, 60 monks inhabited the Monts. By 1790, during the French Revolution, no more than a dozen remained. The words monk and monastery derive from the Greek word monos, meaning alone. The first monks withdrew from the world in order to undertake their search for God alone. The great majority of monks, however, now as in the Middle Ages, live together as brothers in a community according to a rule. They are required to take vows of obedience, humility, silence, chastity, and poverty. With the celebration of the monastery's millennial anniversary, a religious community moved back to what used to be the basal dwellings in 1966, restoring the site's original vocation by engaging in perpetual prayer. Religious from Les Fraternités Monastiques de Jerusalem have ensured a spiritual presence at the Abbey since the year 2001. The whole site has been returned to its former glory thanks to an ongoing restoration project. The greater part of the Abbey Church underwent extensive restoration in the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century, carried out by Victor Petitgrand and Pargou. The cloister was a place of silence set aside for meditation and prayer. The walls on the garden side consist of a double row of frail looking arches with colonnades set in a quinquex pattern linked at the top by diagonal arches. It forms a series of stable tripods supporting the weight of the roof. The cloister served as a covered passageway between the Abbey building and the church. The elaborate decorative scheme of the colonnades contrasts with the plain granite of the external wall which is enlivened only by blind arches and spandrels decorated with the incised tree foils. The delicacy of the cloister stands in marked contrast to the powerful architecture of the other parts of the Abbey. The cloister had to be constructed as the monastery's third story above the knight's chamber. It communicates only with the refectory and the dormitory. The enclosed garden replanted in 1965 adds to the charms of this luminous corner of the Abbey. The colonnades were largely remade at the end of the 19th century using a fine grained purple limestone very different from the original English marble. The columns support finely molded arches decorated throughout with carved rosettes and foliage. Entirely close to the outside world and opening only onto an interior garden, this covered passageway symbolized the monastic life. Three arches overlook the sea and thus make the cloister belvedere. The landscapes of the bay are of a great diversity. A maritime scene of grass, sand dunes, and cliff. The vision alters depending on the time of day and the level of the tide. Its waters reflecting the color of the sky and in low tide revealing a wealth of marine life beneath its surface. The typical Norman and Breton villages that dot the bay add to the uniqueness of the landscape. Its many headlands and viewpoints provide a variety of perspectives from which to observe the bay and the marvel that crowns it. The refectory is entered through the cloister. The architect overcame major technical difficulties in order to create a single uninterrupted space. The enormous timber roof was solely on the outer walls which had to be reinforced until they were massively strong with no points of vulnerability. The wall of light is a cellular construction of thin deep parallel piers between which the greatest possible amount of light is emitted. In the 13th century it would have been adorned with polychrome decorations, paintings on the ceilings and walls, stained glass windows, and colorful glazed terracotta floor tiles. The promenade des moines or monk's gallery is an elegant room that comprises two parallel vaulted aisles separated by a row of small pillars. Only the lower part of the room is original. The current vaulting having been added during the mid-12th century after fire damaged the original. The north wall has few windows. The promenade des moines was built over the dormitory which is in turn supported by the acrylon room. This is the earliest example of gothic architecture on the mount. The room of the north wind is a fine example of 11th century romanesque architecture. Relatively untouched by restoration efforts it has retained much of its original appearance. Its name derives from its position facing the chill northerly wind known as the acrylon. It was here that the poor would be offered food and shelter. The plan of the room is rectangular. In the center two granite columns topped with sturdy carved capitals support springers of rounded and broken romanesque arches. The grain caulking is in a perfect state of preservation. Medieval iconography of Saint Michael focused on his twin tasks of salvation. He was portrayed armed with a lance for combat or a set of skills for his role in the last judgment. Interest in angels is a very ancient phenomenon and a feature common to many religions. According to the christian tradition angels are superior spirits created by god in order to adore him and sing his glory. After the ancien regime the mont became the bastille of the sea where political prisoners were incarcerated during the revolution. Most of them were priests who had refused to swear the oath of civil constitution of clergy by which the church was subordinated to the republic. Mont Saint-Michel was one of the great building projects of the middle ages. The architects extended the abbey church by constructing three crypts. The crypt of Saint Martin, the crypt of Notre Dame des 30 cierges and the crypt of the massive pillars. The prism-shaped ribs of the vaulting do not terminate in capitals but flow directly into the walls and pillars themselves. The precision of the construction reveals the extent to which the stonemasons had succeeded in mastering the art of vaulting. The enormous pillars of the crypt of the massive pillars, five meters each in circumference, support those of the chancel crowned 30 meters above by the pinnacles of the chevio. A few small windows permit light to enter the room. The crypt of Notre Dame des 30 cierges or our lady of the 30 candles presented a similar appearance before being altered in the 13th century. A few traces of the original painted decoration have survived. Construction of the chancel was begun in 1023. The statue of the Traces in this crypt confirm that the Romanesque chancel once possessed an ambulatory three meters higher than the level of the nave. The guest chamber, one of the abbey's three dining halls, was used for the reception of distinguished guests who had come on pilgrimage. It also served as a dormitory. Divided down the center by a row of tall columns, it is lit throughout by high and Rib vaulting is a fundamental element in gothic architecture. This magnificent reception room lost much of its splendor when the original polychrome decor disappeared. A huge double fireplace served as a kitchen. The knight's room supports the cloister above. This new temple of the written word would have housed large cabinets, numerous reading desks, and an area set aside for copying of manuscripts. With its clear glass windows and broad north-facing facade, it was an ideal study. Notre Dame Souterre, or Our Lady Underground, is the most ancient surviving part of the abbey. It is of modest proportions, not including the Pseudo-Northex, which was added in the 11th century and today forms the entrance, making an irregular quadrilateral about 12 meters long by 9 meters wide. The exact date of its construction is not known, but its masonry is characteristic of techniques in use before the year 1000. Thick walls of squared granite blocks and arches lined with flat tiles are the characteristic features of this room. Restoration work of Notre Dame Souterre was begun in 1960 by the architect Fredevaux. The abbey's ossuary lies next to the great wheel. Concealed by the walls, it easily goes unnoticed. Constructed in the 19th century, the great wheel operates according to the same principle as the treadwheels used on the great construction sites of the Middle Ages and far back in antiquity. Six prisoners placed inside the wheel walking forward would turn the wheel and thus draw up a rope which wound around the axle. The rope stretched down outside the buildings as far as the road, while the other end was attached to a trolley on rollers. Among the most amazing rooms of the abbey is the Fleur de Lis room. Its name derived from the ancient painted decoration of the symbol of the King of France, which once adorned this room. This enchanting space is bathed in the sunlight streaming in through the windows. The abbey has been the subject of various restoration interventions over the years, which overall can be considered to have been highly successful. Avranches, the bishop of Coutances, was determined to bring the abbey back to life. Beginning in 1865, he rented the buildings, installing in them diocesan missionaries who were to stay until 1886. These missionaries set about the initial work of cleaning the abbey by removing all the extraneous constructions added by the prison administration. The entire fabric of the monument was in poor condition and required a more specialized approach carried out by experts. The first of these to be appointed was Croyer in 1872. Two years later, the abbey was officially classified an historic monument and thus was assured of effective protection. The isolation of Mount Saint-Michel, which has always been a major element in its fascination, is today under threat. The long history of this site is a romance A thousand years before our era, a warming climate raised the level of the sea, then 100 meters below today's level. At that time, the future mount was part of the mainland. After that, the sea level rose from 40 meters below its current level to within 10. The encroaching sea formed the channel, which was within three meters of the present-day shoreline, effectively cutting off the mount from the mainland. From the start, the island was threatened with silting, initially from natural causes and then increasingly from human intervention. The question of how to restore the rock's isolation has prompted a number of conservation measures to be proposed. The beauty of the bay, the radiance of the abbey, and also the results of earlier human interventions meant that a project had to be devised for Mount Saint-Michel that was both ambitious and respectful of its heritage and scenery. The panoramic view that can be had from the top of the abbey is unique. A small staircase permits the steeple and dome of the abbey to be accessed. The exuberance of the external decoration contrasts sharply with the sobriety of the interior. From here, a superb view of the village and the bay can be had. The lateral thrust imposed by rib faulting on the pillars, which support it, has a tendency to make buildings in the gothic style bulge outwards. Medieval master builders had the idea of redirecting these lateral forces, by means of permanent supports, flying buttresses, into perpendicular abutments of piers of masonry, whose vertical force was increased by the weight of crowning pinnacles. The architecture of this wonder tells its own story, from the pre-romanesque through the romanesque, the gothic and late gothic, to the flamboyant gothic. The difficulties presented by the site, particularly the steep rocky slopes of the mount itself, are a clear indication in themselves of the determination of the builders, who also had to face fire, earth tremors and war. They also bear witness to the tripartite society of the middle ages, in which the military, laity and clergy and their buildings live side by side, in an at times uneasy coexistence. Architecture serves a symbolic role. The breathtaking sight of this great architectural pyramid, standing between sea and sky, is a reminder that for centuries the mount was one of Europe's great spiritual centers. The chancel of the abbey church on the mount is supported by two tiers of flying buttresses, with piers surmounted by a thicket of pinnacles. The jewel of this complex is without doubt the the laced staircase, so named because of the delicate carving of its flamboyant gothic stonework. It is reached by means of a spiral staircase built into one of the piers. Architecture is a framework for a way of life. On the merveille, the complex function of this huge site was governed by a carefully organized use of space, an architectural triumph that also possesses a spiritual dimension. Each building within the structure has its own meaning and is imbued with its own spirit and atmosphere. The steeple crowned by the statue of the archangel has become the symbol of the mount. The original wooden spire was later replaced by an imperial dome with a squat bell tower, which was then replaced by a hipped roof. The mount had to wait for the restorations of the late 19th century before it regained its tall slender outline with steeple. Fremier was commissioned to design a monumental statue to top the then gothic steeple of the Mont Saint-Michel. He imagined a gilded figure wielding a sword, faithful to the traditional symbolism associated with Saint-Michel. The statue was quickly adopted as the emblem of the mount. Today, Mont Saint-Michel is a world-famous tourist site. More than 3.5 million visitors flock there every year and a third of them explore the mysteries of the abbey. Since 1984, Mont Saint-Michel has been listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. This international classification is of vital significance for sites. It has served to alert international public opinion to the dangers of silting and has added weight to arguments calling for the removal of the causeway.