!!!Abbey Mont Saint-Michel

by Stanislav Sedov and Dmitry Moiseenko,
member of the [AirPano Team|Geography/About/Consortium/AirPano,_Team] that is a member of the [global-geography Consortium|Geography/About/Consortium]. \\

30 March 2013

with kind permission of [AirPano|http://www.AirPano.com]

Mont Saint-Michel, is a name that has a lot of charm, it sounds almost
poetic and lyrical. But don't let it fool you: Mont Saint-Michel is a
small rocky tidal island situated on the north-west coast of France...

This place is characterized by the highest tides in Europe (up to 14
meters high), steep rocks, and quicksand. Its surrounding waters can
move 18 kilometers away from the island and 20 kilometers deep into the
coast. For centuries all these features made Mont Saint-Michel an
impenetrable fortress.

First inhabitants of this 92-meter tall mountain, ancient Celts, didn't
have any illusions about it and called it Mont Tombe (Mountain Tomb).
Back then Mont Saint-Michel wasn’t an island: it was surrounded by the
forest that was later washed away by ocean waters.

[{Image src='01_Mont Saint-Michel.jpg' caption='Mont Saint-Michel' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='333'}]

The island was named after Archangel Michael. The medieval legend, which
is quite grim, says that in 708 Archangel Michael (Michel) instructed
the Bishop of Avranches, from a small nearby town, to build him a
sanctuary on a rocky islet. Bishop had three visions of Archangel
Michael but did not act on the request, because he wasn't sure as to how
exactly he should interpret these visions. Only after Archangel Michael
pushed his finger against the Bishop's head (according to other story he
burned a small hole in his cassock with the sword) did he start the
construction of the sanctuary.

[{Image src='02_Castle Mont Saint-Michel.jpg' 
caption='Castle Mont Saint-Michel\\Photo: Dmitriy Archipov' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='448'}]


And while the mainland was ravaged by wars, while captured by the
Vikings, the Normans, the Bretons, the British, and other nations — the
island-fortress remained untouched. Furthermore, during the years
preceding the 16th century people were building the abbey and other
buildings, including stone cells where prisoners couldn’t stand nor sit.
On top of that prisoners were chained and these chains were making
menacing ringing sounds whenever the captives moved. This is why during
the French Revolution when the monastery was closed and all the way
through year 1863, the island was used as a prison and had an ironic
name Mont Libre. It used to hold more than 150 prisoners at the same
time!

But it would be a mistake to think of Mont Saint-Michel as a prison,
first and foremost it's a Benedictine abbey. It occupies an area of
about 55,000 square meters and it is regarded as a unique example of a
fortified medieval French monastery. The top of the Cathedral's spire is
170 meters above the sea level!

[{Image src='03_Mont Saint-Michel Abbay.jpg' caption='Mont Saint-Michel Abbey' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='521'}]

In 1877 Mont Saint-Michel lost some of its defenses after construction
of the dam that connected it to the mainland. A century later some monks
returned to the island, and today their community consists of seven
people.

The island is hardly deserted: 2 to 3 million tourists come here every
year. Mont Saint-Michel was declared a national architectural treasure
and included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Its unique architecture
and ascetic beauty of the surrounding nature, combined with the
atmosphere of medieval mystery and ancient legends, made this
island-fortress one of the most visited landmarks of France second only
to Paris itself.

[{Image src='04_Castle Mont Saint-Michel.jpg' caption='Castle Mont Saint-Michel' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='669'}]

\\ \\
[11 Panoramas of Abbey Mont Saint-Michel|Geography/Europe/France/Pictures/Panoramas_of_Abbey_Mont_Saint-Michel]










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