"Merveille de l’Occident" a Mont Saint Michel Travel Page by JLBG

“Merveille de l’Occident” (Marvel of the Occident) is how the Mount is named by the Tourist Office. It has been inscribed in 1979 on the Unesco World heritage list. It is the third most visited monument in France, after the Eiffel tower and the Château de Versailles. For more, visit the web site Mont-Saint-Michel

The profile of Mont-Saint-Michel looming out of the fog like a stone ghost rising above the sea has for centuries fascinated visitors.

First, there was a rock named Mont Tombe (Tomb mount) standing alone in the middle of dangerous sand banks. In 709, Aubert, the bishop of Avranches built the first church, as required to him by Archangel Michael. In 966, a Benedictine monastery was built. Later,it burnt, it was built again. A city wall was built around the island, that allowed it to resist victoriously against the English during the “Guerre de 100 ans”. The choir of the church fall down and was replaced by the Flamboyant Gothic construction that we see now. After the 1789 Revolution, it became a prison until 1863. It was in 1874 listed as a “Monument historique”, which lead to a complete restoration.

Mont-Saint-Michel was inscribed in 1979 as a World Heritage site with the following comment (quote):
Perched on a rocky islet in the midst of vast sandbanks exposed to powerful tides between Normandy and Brittany stand the 'Wonder of the West', a Gothic-style Benedictine abbey dedicated to the archangel St Michael, and the village that grew up in the shadow of its great walls. Built between the 11th and 16th centuries, the abbey is a technical and artistic tour de force, having had to adapt to the problems posed by this unique natural site.