Le Mont St Michel Tour

Day trip to Le Mont St Michel

NB. This is an 80 metre high, 1000 year old Monastic Citadel with tourist shopping below. Local guide services/audio tour rules apply. No escalators or lifts

Collect from either Bayeux or Caen railway station, or hotel.
(Also see: Travel from the UK)

Mont St. Michel

Mont St. Michel is on the north coast of France between the borders of Normandy and Brittany. It is the most popular single tourist attraction in France.

In the early eighth century the Archangel Michael appeared to Bishop Aubert of Avranches, who started an oratory. In 966, a Benedictine monastery was established and in 1020 Richard II began the Abbey Church, supported Abbot Hildebert's construction efforts. Over time the spiritual foundations of the abbey weakened and during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries it was used as a prison. In 1874, the French government assumed responsibility for the abbey's upkeep and restoration.

Le Mont St Michel has been a pilgrimage destination for over 1200 years.

Geography

Mont St. Michel is a small volcanic island separated by approximately one kilometre of sea from the mainland at high tide. It is about one kilometre in diameter and about 80 meters high, jutting defiantly above the ocean.

At low tide, however, it is separated from the mainland by approximately one kilometre of sand. Before the causeway was built in 1879, the only approach to the Mont was by foot over this land bridge.

The approach was not easy. The tides here are among the greatest in France with a swing of up to 14m between the high and low water marks. An unwary traveller could easily be drowned by a sudden onslaught of tidal waters.

Furthermore, the force of those awesome tides shifts the sands about unpredictably causing uncharitable areas of quicksand. (The Bayeux tapestry bears the mention that Harold the Saxon and William the Conquerer, visited Mont St. Michel. Hic Harold dux trahebat eos de arena, it says, "Harold pulled them out of the quicksand.") Pilgrims needed great faith to visit Mont St. Michel!

Modern pilgrims can arrive by car and walk the short distance safely to the Island where a visit of 3 to 4 hours is the typical duration.

Architectural History

The first grand construction commenced in 1020 with Abbot Hildebert's ambitious works. Instead of removing rock to make a level base for the church, Hildebert added a masonry foundation to make a level base, and built it from there. By 1058, the church was well-enough established to host William and Harold. That construction phase was completed in 1135, but in the meantime Abbot Roger II planned and built a triple level gallery/cloister/dormitory as well.

In about 1170, Abbot Robert de Toringy started building a new facade on the western side of the church. In 1203, the Duke of Brittany "accidentally" set fire to the church as a reaction to Phillip Augustus having expelled the British from Normandy.

Phillip Augustus was not too happy about Archangel Michael's building being damaged, so used his influence with the King of France to allocate funds to repair the buildings. As is frequently the case with public monies, there was just a little bit of alteration of the plan, and Abbot Jordan planned and started building The Merveille - The Marvel - in around 1210. The Merveille contains a number of great halls (presumably for dining and assembly), kitchens, cloisters, and a dormitory. Work was completed around 1230.

Unfortunately, Hildebert's original masonry was not adequate for supporting the weight of the granite his successors placed upon it. In 1300, one of de Torigny's towers collapsed, followed in 1421 by the collapse of Hildebert's nave. Construction resumed in 1450 and was not completed until 1521.

Today a visit to the Abbey is well-worth the climb by stairs to the top. Visitors must be aware that local guide rules apply and there are no public elevators anywhere on the island.

ducky@netcom.com

Copyright, Kaitlin Duck Sherwood, 1994

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