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Click to see the film of a helicopter pilot removing the statue of Saint Michael from the spire of the Abbey Church. The statue, which will be undergoing major restoration, is nearly 15 feet high, (4.5 m) and weighs close to 1800 pounds (800 kilos). It was removed in March 2016 and is scheduled to be returned to its perch in June 2016.
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Click here to watch an amazing video made by l'Edition du Soir and Wanaii Films of the tide surrounding Mont Saint Michel, with some great aerial footage of the village and abbey.
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Scroll down to watch a slide show of Mont Saint Michel
Photos taken by the author.
Photos taken by the author.
Mont Saint Michel has always been known as a site of great religious importance, and it has been the subject of many myths and legends. In prehistoric times, neolithic stones topped the mount, and by the 6th century, the mount was populated by Christian religious devotees and hermits. Its history as a Christian sanctuary began in 708 A.D. when Aubert, the bishop of the nearby town of Avranches, was supposedly instructed by Saint Michael the Archangel to build an oratory dedicated to him. The following centuries witnessed the evolution of the simple oratory into a Romanesque Benedictine monastery and abbey with Gothic portions added in the 12th - 14th centuries. For centuries, devotees of Saint Michael braved the treacherous shoals and sands of the bay to visit the Archangel's sanctuary and to obtain a token of their pilgrimage, a metal enseigne. During the Hundred Years' War, the village was fortified by ramparts and defensive walls. The Montois withstood multiple attempts by the English to take possession of the island, including attempts to starve out the inhabitants. It wasn't until WWII, when the Nazis occupied France, that the mount fell into enemy hands.
In prehistoric times, the granite mountain was on dry land surrounded by forests. As sea levels rose, and with the effects of erosion, the rocky promontory became a tidal island, with sea water surrounding the rocky promontory twice a day. The tides in the Mont Saint Michel Bay are considered the largest in Europe, traveling in and out over a distance of six miles (10 kilometers), and reaching over 50 feet (16 meters) in amplitude during the highest tides. The ocean moves very quickly. It was described by Victor Hugo as being as "swift as a galloping horse," but in fact, it moves at about 3.8 miles per hour (6.1 km/h). The connection between the mount and the mainland has changed over the centuries. Previously connected by a causeway, the French government began a project in 2009 to replace the causeway with a bridge and to make Mont Saint Michel an island again, with the help of a hydraulic dam on the Couesnon River and the tides to remove the accumulated silt. Mont Saint Michel was named as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979. It is among the most visited sites in France.
In prehistoric times, the granite mountain was on dry land surrounded by forests. As sea levels rose, and with the effects of erosion, the rocky promontory became a tidal island, with sea water surrounding the rocky promontory twice a day. The tides in the Mont Saint Michel Bay are considered the largest in Europe, traveling in and out over a distance of six miles (10 kilometers), and reaching over 50 feet (16 meters) in amplitude during the highest tides. The ocean moves very quickly. It was described by Victor Hugo as being as "swift as a galloping horse," but in fact, it moves at about 3.8 miles per hour (6.1 km/h). The connection between the mount and the mainland has changed over the centuries. Previously connected by a causeway, the French government began a project in 2009 to replace the causeway with a bridge and to make Mont Saint Michel an island again, with the help of a hydraulic dam on the Couesnon River and the tides to remove the accumulated silt. Mont Saint Michel was named as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979. It is among the most visited sites in France.