A rocky isle off the coast of Normandy, NW France, famous for its Gothic abbey; a world heritage site. A Benedictine settlement was first established here in the 8th-c, but the most impressive elements of the abbey date from the early 13th-c.
Mont Saint-Michel (English: Mount Saint Michael) is a small rocky tidal island in Normandy, roughly one kilometre from the north coast of France at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches, close to the border of Brittany, which has led to Breton claims to the mount. Originally the Couesnon formed the border between the two duchies, and every so often the river would shift its bank, leading to ownership of the mount shifting between them.
Formation
In prehistoric times the bay had been covered by the sea, which retreated during multiple glaciations, allowing erosion to shape the coastal landscape over millions of years. These included the Mont-Dol, Tombelaine, Lillemer and Mont Tombe, later called Mont Saint Michel.
Tidal island
The Mount was connected to the mainland via a thin natural land bridge, which before modernization was covered at high tide and revealed at low tide. Thus, Mont Saint Michel gained a mystical quality, being an island half the time, and being attached to land the other: a tidal island.
However, the insular character of the mount has been compromised by several developments. The coast south of the mount has thus encroached on the distance between the shore and the mount. This prevented the tide from scouring the silt round the mount.
On 16 June 2006, French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin announced a €150 million project (Projet Mont Saint Michel) to build a hydraulic dam that will help remove the accumulated silt and make Mont Saint Michel an island again.
Before the construction of the first monastic establishment in the 8th century, the island was called Mont Tombe.
The mount gained strategic significance in 933 when the Normans annexed the Cotentin Peninsula, thereby placing the mount on the new frontier with Brittany.
During the Hundred Years' War the English made repeated assaults on the island but were unable to seize it partly due to the abbey's improved fortifications.
The wealth and influence of the abbey extended to many daughter foundations, including St Michael's Mount in Cornwall, England. The prison was finally closed in 1863, and the mount was declared a historic monument in 1874. The Mont Saint Michel and its bay were added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1979, as they rank high on such World Heritage Site criteria as cultural, historical, and architectural significance, as well as human-created and natural beauty.
Design
An Italian architect, William de Volpiano, was chosen as building contractor for the mount in the 11th century. He designed the Romanesque church of the abbey, daringly placing the transept crossing at the top of the mount.
Robert de Thorigny, a great supporter of Henry II of England (who was also Duke of Normandy), reinforced the structure of the buildings and built the main façade of the church in the 12th century.
Charles VI is credited with adding major fortifications to the abbey-mount, building towers, successive courtyards and strengthening the ramparts.
Tides
The tides in the area shift quickly, and have been described by Victor Hugo as "à la vitesse d'un cheval au galop" or "as swiftly as a galloping horse".
The tides can vary greatly, at roughly 14 metres between high and low water marks. Popularly nicknamed "St. Michael in peril of the sea" by mediaeval pilgrims making their way across the tidal flats, the mount can still pose dangers for visitors who avoid the causeway and attempt the hazardous walk across the sands from the neighbouring coast.
Administration
The islet belongs to the French commune Le Mont-Saint-Michel, of the Manche département, in the Basse-Normandie région.
In popular culture
The Mont Saint Michel was featured in the 1985 Imax film "Chronos", in which an aerial view of the incoming tides are shown using time lapse video. The 1990 Bernt Amadeus Capra film Mindwalk was filmed on the mount. Saint Michel Mix+St. Michaels Mount", which was reportedly produced on his travels in both of these locations. The Mont Saint Michel was also featured in a scene in the 2004 animated Disney movie Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers, in which Captain Pete of the Musketeers attempted to drown Mickey Mouse in order to carry out his plot to take over France's monarchy as king without interruption. Mont Saint Michel, along with St Michael's Mount, was an inspiration for the design of Minas Tirith in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King film by Peter Jackson.Miscellaneous
The mount is the object of traditional, but nowadays good-humoured, rivalry between Normans and Bretons. Bretons claim that, since the Couesnon River marks the traditional boundary between Normandy and Brittany, it is only because the river has altered its course over the centuries that the mount is on the Norman side of the frontier. Normans display a certain proprietorial pride in the mount - for example, the Manche département in which the mount is situated uses its silhouette in its logo - and affect mild irritation on occasions when Brittany uses the mount in tourist publicity.
Mont Saint Michel and St Michael's Mount in Cornwall were historical counterparts.
Polderisation created salt marsh meadows that were found to be ideally suited to grazing sheep. The well-flavoured meat that results from the diet of the sheep in the pré salé (salt meadow) makes agneau de pré-salé (salt meadow lamb), a local speciality that may be found on the menus of restaurants that depend on income from the many visitors to the mount.
The community belongs to the Organization of World Heritage Cities.
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