Mont Saint-Michel

For other uses, see Mont Saint Michel (disambiguation).

Le Mont Saint-Michel
Le Mont Saint-Michel
Coat of arms
Le Mont Saint-Michel
Location within Lower Normandy region Le Mont Saint-Michel
Coordinates:
Country	France
Region	Normandy
Department	Manche
Arrondissement	Avranches
Canton	Pontorson
Intercommunality	Communauté de communes de Pontorson - Le Mont-Saint-Michel
Government
• Mayor (2014-2020)	Yann Galton
Area1	0.97 km2 (0.37 sq mi)
Population (2009)2	44
• Density	45/km2 (120/sq mi)
INSEE/Postal code	50353 / 50116
Elevation	5–80 m (16–262 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km² (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries. 2 Population without double counting: residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.

Le Mont-Saint-Michel (pronounced: [lə mɔ̃ sɛ̃ mi.ʃɛl]; English: Saint Michael's Mount) is an island commune in Normandy, France. It is located about one kilometre (0.6 miles) off the country's northwestern coast, at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches. 100 hectares (247 acres) in size, the island has a population of 44 (2009).

The island has held strategic fortifications since ancient times and since the 8th century AD has been the seat of the monastery from which it draws its name. The structural composition of the town exemplifies the feudal society that constructed it: on top, God, the abbey and monastery; below, the great halls; then stores and housing; and at the bottom, outside the walls, houses for fishermen and farmers.

Its unique position — on an island just 600 metres from land — made it accessible at low tide to the many pilgrims to its abbey, but defensible as an incoming tide stranded, drove off, or drowned, would-be assailants. The Mont remained unconquered during the Hundred Years' War; a small garrison fended off a full attack by the English in 1433. The reverse benefits of its natural defence were not lost on Louis XI, who turned the Mont into a prison. Thereafter the abbey began to be used more regularly as a jail during the Ancien Régime.

One of France's most recognizable landmarks, Mont Saint-Michel and its bay are part of the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites and more than 3 million people visit it each year.

Geography

Formation

Now a rocky tidal island, the Mont occupied dry land in prehistoric times . As sea levels rose, erosion reshaped the coastal landscape, and several outcrops of granite emerged in the bay, having resisted the wear and tear of the ocean better than the surrounding rocks. These included Lillemer, the Mont-Dol, Tombelaine (the island just to the north), and Mont Tombe, later called Mont Saint-Michel.

Mont Saint-Michel is made of leucogranite, which solidified from an underground intrusion of molten magma about 525 million years ago, during the Cambrian period, as one of the younger parts of the Mancellian granitic batholith. (Early studies of Mont Saint-Michel by French geologists sometimes describe the leucogranite of the Mont as "granulite", but this granitic meaning of granulite is now obsolete).

The Mont has a circumference of about , and is above sea level at its highest point.

Tides

The tides can vary greatly, at roughly 14 metres (46 ft) between high and low water marks. Popularly nicknamed "St. Michael in peril of the sea" by medieval pilgrims making their way across the 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.

Polderisation and occasional flooding have 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 specialty that may be found on the menus of restaurants that depend on income from the many visitors to the mount.

Tidal island

Low tide in 2005

Mont Saint-Michel in 2014 with the new bridge

The connection between Mont Saint-Michel and the mainland has changed over the centuries. Previously connected by a tidal causeway (a path uncovered only at low tide), this was converted into a raised (permanently dry) causeway in 1879, preventing the tide from scouring the silt around the mount. The coastal flats have also been polderised to create pastureland, decreasing the distance between the shore and the island, and the Couesnon River has been canalised, reducing the dispersion of the flow of water. These factors all encouraged silting-up of the bay.

On 16 June 2006, the French prime minister and regional authorities announced a €164 million project (Projet Mont-Saint-Michel) to build a hydraulic dam using the waters of the river Couesnon and the tides to help remove the accumulated silt, and to make Mont Saint-Michel an island again. The project's completion is scheduled for 2015.

The construction of the dam began in 2009. The project also includes the removal of the causeway and its visitor car park. Since 28 April 2012 the new car park on the mainland has been located 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) from the island. Visitors can walk or use shuttles to cross the causeway.

On 22 July 2014 the new bridge by architect Dietmar Feichtinger was opened to the public. The light bridge allows the waters to flow freely around the island and improves the efficiency of the now operational dam. The project which cost €209m was officially opened by President Francois Hollande.

On rare occasions tidal circumstances produce an extremely high 'supertide'. The new bridge was completely submerged on 21 March 2015, by the highest sea level for at least 18 years, as crowds gathered to snap photos.

History

Mont Saint-Michel was used in the sixth and seventh centuries as an Armorican stronghold of Gallo-Roman culture and power until it was ransacked by the Franks, thus ending the trans-channel culture that had stood since the departure of the Romans in AD 460. From roughly the fifth to the eighth century, Mont Saint-Michel belonged to the territory of Neustria, and in the early ninth century was an important place in the marches of Neustria.

File:Mont-Saint-Michel - Novembre 2011 (24).jpg

Inside the walls of Mont Saint-Michel

Before the construction of the first monastic establishment in the 8th century, the island was called Mont Tombe (Latin: tumba). According to legend, the Archangel Michael appeared in 708 to St. Aubert, the bishop of Avranches, and instructed him to build a church on the rocky islet. Aubert repeatedly ignored the angel's instruction until Michael burned a hole in the bishop's skull with his finger.

Unable to defend his kingdom against the assaults of the Vikings, the king of the Franks agreed to grant the Cotentin peninsula and the Avranchin, including Mont-Saint-Michel, to the Bretons in the 867 Treaty of Compiègne. This marked the beginning of the brief period of Breton possession of the Mont. In fact, these lands and Mont Saint-Michel were never really included in the duchy of Brittany and remained independent bishoprics from the newly created Breton archbishopric of Dol. When Rollo confirmed Franco as archbishop of Rouen, these traditional dependences of the Rouen archbishopric were retained in it.

The mount gained strategic significance again in 933 when William "Long Sword" annexed the Cotentin Peninsula from the weakened Dukes of Brittany. This made the mount definitively part of Normandy, and is depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry, which commemorates the 1066 Norman conquest of England. Harold, Earl of Wessex is pictured on the tapestry rescuing two Norman knights from the quicksand in the tidal flats during a battle with Conan II, Duke of Brittany. Norman ducal patronage financed the spectacular Norman architecture of the abbey in subsequent centuries.

File:BayeuxTapestryScene16 17.png

Bayeux Tapestry scenes 16 and 17: William and Harold at Mont Saint-Michel (at top center); Harold rescuing knights from quicksand

In 1067, the monastery of Mont Saint-Michel gave its support to Duke William of Normandy in his claim to the throne of England. This he rewarded with properties and grounds on the English side of the Channel, including a small island off the south-western coast of Cornwall which was modelled after the Mount and became a Norman priory named St Michael's Mount of Penzance.

Cannons abandoned by Thomas de Scales at Mont Saint-Michel on 17 June 1434. Currently (June 2013), only the second cannon, the one closer to the wall, is on display inside the entrance to the Mont's outer wall.

During the Hundred Years' War, the English made repeated assaults on the island, but were unable to seize it due to the abbey's improved fortifications. The English initially besieged the Mont in 1423–24, and then again in 1433–34 with English forces under the command of Thomas Scales. Two wrought-iron bombards that Scales abandoned when he gave up his siege are still on site. They are known as les Michelettes. Mont Saint-Michel's resolute resistance inspired the French, especially Joan of Arc.

When Louis XI of France founded the Order of Saint Michael in 1469, he intended that the abbey church of Mont Saint-Michel become the chapel for the Order, but because of its great distance from Paris, his intention could never be realized.

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Mont Saint-Michel and its Bay
Name as inscribed on the World Heritage List
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, iii, vi
Reference	80
UNESCO region	Europe
Inscription history
Inscription	1979 (3rd Session)

The wealth and influence of the abbey extended to many daughter foundations, including St. Michael's Mount in Cornwall. However, its popularity and prestige as a centre of pilgrimage waned with the Reformation, and by the time of the French Revolution there were scarcely any monks in residence. The abbey was closed and converted into a prison, initially to hold clerical opponents of the republican regime. High-profile political prisoners followed, but by 1836, influential figures—including Victor Hugo—had launched a campaign to restore what was seen as a national architectural treasure. The prison was finally closed in 1863, and the mount was declared an historic monument in 1874. Mont Saint-Michel and its bay were added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1979, and it was listed with criteria such as cultural, historical, and architectural significance, as well as human-created and natural beauty.

Abbey design

See also: Mont Saint Michel Abbey

Plan of the mount by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc

In the 11th century, William de Volpiano, the Italian architect who had built the Abbey of Fécamp in Normandy, was chosen by Richard II of Normandy to be the building contractor. He designed the Romanesque church of the abbey, daringly placing the transept crossing at the top of the mount. Many underground crypts and chapels had to be built to compensate for this weight; these formed the basis for the supportive upward structure that can be seen today. Today Mont Saint-Michel is seen as a building of Romanesque architecture.

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. In 1204, Guy de Thouars, regent for the Duchess of Brittany, as vassal of the King of France, undertook a siege of the Mount. After having set fire to the village and having massacred the population, he was obliged to beat a retreat under the powerful walls of the abbey. Unfortunately, the fire which he himself lit extended to the buildings, and the roofs fell prey to the flames. Horrified by the cruelty and the exactions of his Breton ally, Philip Augustus offered Abbot Jordan a grant for the construction of a new Gothic architectural set which included the addition of the refectory and cloister.

Charles VI is credited with adding major fortifications to the abbey-mount, building towers, successive courtyards, and strengthening the ramparts.

Development

• 

  10th century

• 

  11th to 12th century

• 

  17th to 18th century

• 

  19th to 21st century

Administration

The cloister

The islet belongs to the French commune of Mont-Saint-Michel, in the département of Manche, in Basse-Normandie. Population (1999): 46. The nearest major town, with an SNCF train station, is Pontorson. Mont Saint-Michel belongs to the Organization of World Heritage Cities.

Mont Saint-Michel has also been the subject 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 border. This legend amuses the area's inhabitants, who state that the border is not located on the Couesnon River itself but on the mainland, 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) to the west, at the foot of the solid mass of Saint-Brelade.

Population

Historical population of Mont Saint-Michel
Year Pop. ±% 1793 234 —     1800 234 +0.0% 1806 282 +20.5% 1821 904 +220.6% 1831 390 −56.9% 1836 385 −1.3% 1841 1,082 +181.0% 1846 1,100 +1.7% 1851 1,182 +7.5% 1856 1,153 −2.5% 1861 1,056 −8.4% 1866 203 −80.8%	Year Pop. ±% 1872 193 −4.9% 1876 184 −4.7% 1881 209 +13.6% 1886 211 +1.0% 1891 199 −5.7% 1896 230 +15.6% 1901 235 +2.2% 1906 238 +1.3% 1911 232 −2.5% 1921 230 −0.9% 1926 247 +7.4% 1931 250 +1.2%	Year Pop. ±% 1936 231 −7.6% 1946 186 −19.5% 1954 268 +44.1% 1962 132 −50.7% 1968 105 −20.5% 1975 114 +8.6% 1982 80 −29.8% 1990 72 −10.0% 1999 46 −36.1% 2006 41 −10.9% 2009 44 +7.3% 2015 50 +13.6%
From the year 1962 on: No double counting—residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel) are counted only once. Since 2004, as for any city with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants, censuses are every five years, in years ending in 1 and 6 for this city, other counts are from annual population surveys. Source: EHESS and Insee ·

Births

1956–1962	1962–1968	1968–1975	1975–1982	1982–1990	1990–1999
xx	13	16	8	6	4

Deaths

1956–1962	1962–1968	1968–1975	1975–1982	1982–1990	1990–1999
xx	6	6	4	5	3

Up to 20,000 people visit the city during the summer months. Among the 43 inhabitants as of 2006, 5 were monks and 7 nuns.

The Monastic Fraternities of Jerusalem

Since 2001, a community of monks and nuns of the Monastic Fraternities of Jerusalem, sent from the mother-house of Saint-Gervais in Paris, have been living as a community on Mont St Michel. They replaced the Benedictine monks who returned to the Mount in 1966. They are tenants of the centre for national monuments and are not involved in the management of the abbey.

The community meets four times a day to recite the liturgical office in the abbey itself (or in the crypt of Notre-Dame des Trente Cierges in winter). In this way, the building keeps its original purpose as a place of prayer and singing the glory of God. The presence of the community attracts many visitors and pilgrims who come to join in the various liturgical celebrations.

In 2012, the community undertook the renovation of a house on the Mount, the Logis Saint-Abraham, which is use as a guest house for pilgrims on retreat.

Personalities related to the commune

• Robert of Torigni, famous abbot of the Mount;
• Guillaume de Saint Pair, monk of the abbey and author of the novel Mont-Saint-Michel;
• The Duke of Chartres (later Louis-Philippe I) came to demolish the "iron cage";
• Mathurin Bruneau, shoemaker, rogue, and fake Louis XVII, prisoner in 1821-1822;
• Louis Auguste Blanqui, political prisoner in the Mount;
• Armand Barbès, political prisoner in the Mount;
• Monsignor Bravard, restorer of the abbey;
• La Mère Poulard, famous omelette restaurant;
• Émile Couillard, writer, historian of the Mount, and abbot of the Mont-Saint-Michel.

Economy

Le Mont-Saint-Michel has long "belonged" to some families who shared the businesses in the town, and succeeded to the village administration. Tourism is the main and even almost unique source of income of the commune. There are about fifty shops for 3 million tourists, while only 25 people sleep every night on the Mount (monks included), except in hotels. Nowadays, the main institutions of the city are shared by:

• Eric Vannier, owner of the group the Mère Poulard (holding half of restaurants, shops, hotels and three museums);
• Jean-Yves Vételé, CEO of Sodetour (five hotels, a supermarket and shops -all extramural-, including Mercury Barracks);
• Patrick Gaul, former elected official, hotelier and intramural restaurateur;
• Independent merchants

Twin towns and sister cities

• Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima, Japan, where Itsukushima Shrine—another island-temple and UNESCO World Heritage Site—is located.

Historically, Mont Saint-Michel was the Norman counterpart of St Michael's Mount in Cornwall, UK, which was given to the Benedictines, religious order of Mont Saint-Michel, by Edward the Confessor in the 11th century. The two mounts share the same tidal island characteristics and the same conical shape, though St Michael's Mount is much smaller.

Historical monument

61 buildings have been protected as monuments historiques, through multiple waves starting in 1928.

In popular culture

Statue of Archangel Michael atop the spire

Main article: Mont Saint-Michel in popular culture

• In 1904, the American intellectual Henry Adams privately published Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres celebrating the unity of medieval society, especially as represented in the great cathedrals of France. It was released publicly in 1913.
• French composer Claude Debussy frequented the island and possibly drew inspiration from not only the legend of the mythical city of Ys, but also Mont Saint-Michel's cathedral for his piano prelude La Cathédrale Engloutie.
• In 1942, Helen MacInnes used Mont St. Michel as the location for a key section in her spy novel Cross Channel set in France just after the Bordeaux Armistice of June 1940. The novel was subsequently renamed as Assignment In Brittany, after a film called Assignment In Brittany was made, based on the novel, in 1943.
• 1950 : The Elusive Pimpernel by Powell and Pressburger.
• 1955: "The Mystery of Mont Saint-Michel (La Forêt de Quokelunde)" by Michel Rouze is a children's novel featuring five children who explore the island on a camping trip.
• 1991 : Mindwalk
• 2003 : Mont Saint-Michel was the inspiration for the design of Minas Tirith in the film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
• 2010 : * The architecture of True Cross Academy, the boarding school from the manga and anime series Ao no Exorcist by Kazue Kato, is based on the layout of Mont Saint-Michel.
• Renaissance Mont Saint-Michel is a playable multiplayer map in the video game Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (2010), and Assassin's Creed: Revelations (2011) by Ubisoft Montreal.
• 2011 : The design of Dark Souls location New Londo Ruins is inspired by Mont Saint-Michel.
• 2012 : Mont Saint-Michel is the "Wonder" of Terence Malick's film To The Wonder, in which a French woman (Olga Kurylenko) and an American (Ben Affleck) travel to the monastery/island, fall in love, and then move to the U.S.
• 2013 : Le Mont Saint-Michel was the end point of stage 11 of the Tour de France.
• 2013 : The design for the Tower of Mastery in the video games Pokémon X and Y versions was inspired by Mont Saint-Michel.

See also

• Carolingian architecture
• Carolingian art
• La Mère Poulard
• List of Carolingian monasteries
• Manoir de Brion
• Saint Michael (Roman Catholic)

External links

• Mont-Saint-Michel Celebrates 1,300 yrs of History
• Official Mont-Saint Michel Tourist site (English version)
• Virtual recreation of Mont St. Michel in Second Life
• Pano at 360° of Mont St Michel
• INSEE population figures