With annual visits numbering in the millions, Mont-Saint-Michel is one of Europe’s most breathtakingly beautiful marvels.
Set in the mesmerising bay where Normandy and Brittany merge, the island draws attention from all over, with its 360-view, hilltop view permeating the surrounding land for miles. Indeed, this staggering location has long been an awe-inspiring place that prompts everyone’s imagination into a sense of wanderlust.
The story of how the mount turned into a great place of Christian pilgrimage is a colourful one, to put it mildly. Aubert, bishop of the neighbouring hilltop town of Avranches early in the 8th century, claimed that the Archangel Michael himself talked him into commissioning the building of a church atop the island just out to sea.
From 966 onwards, the dukes of Normandy, followed by French kings, financed the development of a massive Benedictine abbey on the Mont-Saint-Michel. Beautiful monastic structures were erected during the medieval period; one vertiginous sector being nicknamed The Marvel – with no small amount of glee. The abbey became a well-known and sought-after centre of learning and education, attracting some of the most eccentric and intelligent minds and manuscript illuminators in Europe. Despite the continuous wars between cross-channel royals, vast numbers of pilgrims visited the site in search of religious and educational meaning. However, ramparts at the base of the island were soon constructed to keep English forces out, with the perhaps unintended consequence of keeping every other non-military person out too. Other fine buildings went up along the steep village street, now converted into museums, hotels, restaurants and boutiques for today’s tourists.
The Mont Saint-Michel Bay has been prone to silting up in the last couple of centuries. Man-made, grand actions, including farming and the building of a causeway to the island monastery, have somewhat affected the region.
However, a major activist campaign has ensured that the Mont-Saint-Michel preserves its maritime character and remains as beautiful an island as it could possibly be. For example, the main river leading into the bay, the Couesnon, has been engineered to allow water to pass more freely, ensuring that sediments are washes out to sea.
It is not every day that one comes across such a marvellous structural remnant of the feudal times. In this sense, Mont-Saint-Michel is one of France’s many pearls – a landmark that every tourist or expat ought to visit some time!
Thinking of retiring in France? Contact deVere France today for expert financial advice!