Sightseeing: Mont Sant Michel

                                                         SIGHTSEEING: MONT SANT MICHEL

Mont Saint-Michel is an island commune in Normandy, France.

When the tide is up it becomes an isolated island, and when it comes down you can reach land by foot which takes 30 min or less.

The island has held strategic fortifications since ancient times, and since the eighth 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”, below the abbey and monastery, below this the Great halls, then stores and housing, and at the bottom, outside the walls, fishermen and farmers' housing.

Its unique position of being an island only 600 meters from land made it readily accessible on low tide to
the many pilgrims to its abbey. Equally, this position made it readily defensible as an incoming tide stranded, or drowned, would-be assailants. By capitalizing on this natural defense, the Mont remained unconquered during the Hundred Years' War with a small garrison successfully defending it against a full attack by the English in 1433. The reverse benefits of its natural defense was not lost on Louis XI who turned The Mont into a state prison and thereafter the abbey started to be used more regularly as a jail during the Ancien Régime from the sixteenth century.

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.

Map of Mont Sant Michel with the Abbey dominating the Island.