Facts about Mont Saint-Michel

It is a piece of land whose connection to the mainland is only exposed at low tide (the regularly recurring rise and fall of the ocean water level caused by the Earth’s gravitational interaction with the Moon and Sun).

The islet is connected to the mainland by an artificial causeway 1,800 meters long.

It is located east of the mouth of the Couesnon River, in the Manche department.

The bay covers an area of about 500 square kilometers, with a second granite islet, Tombelaine, in addition to the island of Mont Saint-Michel.

Due to the significant tidal movements in this region (the largest tidal range in Europe), much of the bay is exposed at low tide. The sea retreats at high speed for more than 10 km, but returns just as quickly.

The original name of the sanctuary, used throughout the Middle Ages, was Mons Sancti Michaeli in periculo mari (St. Michael's Mountain in the Perilous Sea).

The hill at the time was dedicated to Belenus, the Gallic sun god.

The Romans continued to develop there the cult of the Sun god, whom they called Mithras. Local legend has it that Julius Caesar was buried on the hill in golden shoes and a coffin.

Later, a chapel appeared at the foot of the rock in honor of St. Synphorian, the first martyr of the Gauls. There were also hermitages there, which these chapels took care of.

The bishop twice disregarded the request made in the apparition, until finally St. Michael touched the bishop's head with his finger and burned a hole in it, but without killing him - a skull with a hole belonging to St. Aubert is still kept in Avranches Cathedral.

Soon after, a chapel was built in the grotto, which was named Mont Saint-Michel-au-péril-de-la-Mer (Saint Michael's Hill in the Dangerous Sea).

According to legend, the morning dew drew the outline of the foundations of the sanctuary, a stolen cow appeared where the first scrap of granite should have been, and an infant holding her in her arms pushed away with her feet a boulder that was blocking the road. St. Michael himself is also said to have appeared and pointed out a spring of fresh water.

In 1256 and 1264, King Louis IX of France made pilgrimages to the abbey. Numerous pilgrims also came there, and in order to take proper care of them, a town was built at the foot of the sanctuary.

The sanctuary and the town were surrounded by a ring of defensive walls. A souvenir of the assaults are two siege machines left under the walls.

Often it was a layman who benefited from the income of the monastery. The monastery depopulated, also due to the religious wars, and a prison was built on the grounds of the abbey.

 In 1622 the monastery passed into the hands of the Benedictines of the Congregation of St. Maur, who did not care about the preservation of the place.

After the last monks were expelled from the abbey in 1791, it was transformed into a prison, where more than 300 priests who refused to accept the new civil constitution were held.

An optical telegraph station was established on the bell tower, which included Mont Saint-Michel into the route of the telegraph line from Paris to Brest.

In 1879, the causeway was fortified, so that Mont Saint-Michel ceased to be an island and became a promontory jutting out to sea.

They include six double encircled towers and a bastion tower. The city is located on a rocky hill below the abbey and has grown around the only road Grande Rue street that leads to the sanctuary.

In the northern part of the island is the Gothic monastery of La Merveille, built between 1211 and 1228. It houses, among other things, a scriptorium where the monks copied manuscripts, and in 1469 the hall became the meeting place for the members of the Order of the Knights of St. Michael.

The granite rock on which the abbey was built rises 92 meters above sea level. Together with the statue of St. Michael, it reaches 170 meters.

This phenomenon is caused by an extraordinary tidal range, which can be up to 14 meters difference in level. This has been the cause of numerous drownings in the past, and occasionally still occurs today, although more often it involves cars that have been parked too long at lower levels.

Thanks to such spectacular tides, the island was very difficult to conquer.

Around these places stretched the forest of Scissy. From the third century, the water level gradually rose and the sea engulfed the forest. A particularly violent tide on the equinox of 709 completed the work.

This breeding was initiated by Duchess Anne of Brittany, who ordered the land to be cleaned up and prepared for cultivation and breeding. The animals bred there provide meat of exceptional taste (brackish pastures).

There is also a rich manure - tangue - made from the material carried by the rivers, mixed with the crushed shells carried by the tides.

This happens on the first Sunday of May and on September 29, when the celebrations of the cult of St. Michael the Archangel take place. Usually about 60 thousand pilgrims show up there.

Among others, the 1990 movie Mindwalk was set on Mont Saint-Michel. In 1996, Mike Oldfield composed an instrumental piece dedicated to the island.

In 2005, French writer Maxime Chattam named Mont Saint-Michel one of the most important places in his book Le Sang du Temps.

It also has a religious site - the 15th century Chapel of St. Michael.