Mont Saint-Michel (English: Mount Saint Michael) is a rocky tidal island in Normandi, about one kilometer from the coast of northern France at the mouth of the river Couesnon near Avranches. Residents of Mont Saint-Michel called Montois.
Mont Saint-Michel was originally connected to the mainland via a thin natural land bridge, and then before the modernization covered at high tide and visible at low tide. Therefore, the Mont Saint Michel holds a mystique of island pairs. In 1879, the land bridge was built into a causeway.
Before construction of the first monastic in the 8th century, the island was called Mont Tombe. According to legend, the Archangel Michael appeared to St.. Aubert, Bishop of Avranches, in 708 and ordered him to build a church on the island. Aubert ignore the instruction many times, until Michael makes a hole in the bishop’s skull with his finger.
In 1067, the abbey of Mont Saint-Michel William Normandi support that claim the British throne. The abbey was granted land in the UK, including a small island in the west Cornwall, which mimics the style of Mount Saint-Michel and is called St. Michael’s Mount in Penzance.
Le Mont-Saint-Michel, rocky, cone-shaped islet in northwestern France, in the Gulf of Saint-Malo, connected by a causeway with the mainland. The islet, celebrated for its Benedictine abbey, has small houses and shops on its lowest level. Above these stand the monastic buildings, many of which date from the 13th century and are considered outstanding examples of Gothic architecture. The entire islet is crowned by the abbey church, about 73 m (about 240 ft) above sea level.
The first chapel on this site was founded in 708 by Aubert, Bishop of Avranches , after the Archangel Michael has appeared to him in a dream. The Archangel Michel appeared here in the year 708. The Abbey takes the name of Mont saint Michel. The oratory, consecrated in 709 was served by a community of canons. It apparently survived the Norman invasions, but the observance of the rule became very relaxed. In 966 Richard I, Duke of Normandy, established there the Benedictine monks from St. Wandrille Abbeyunder the direction of Abbot Maynard, who began the reconstructions of the church and other buildings. The church was burnt in 922 and rebuilt on a larger scale by Abbot Hildebert II from 1023, at the time of the monastic reforms in Normandy carried out by Richard II and William of Volpiano
During the Hundred years War the fortifications of Mont St. Michel were reinforced (1420) and the Romanesque choir collapsed Construction of the present clever began in 1448. In 1622 the abbey became part of the Congregation of St. Maur; three western nave bays and the facade were destroyed and replaced with large terrace. The abbey was dissolved at the Revolution (1789-95), and it was used as a prison in the 19th. century. It was severely burnt in 1856, but thorough restorations were not undertaken until 1874.
The buildings of Mont St. Michel are constructed of granite, but there is some limestone in the cloister.
The village that grew up and around the abbey lies huddled within the fortifications and includes a Romanesque parish church, remolded in the 15 century. The fortifications include crenellated ramparts, towers and a 14th century barbican, which reinforce the abbey's own defenses. The tower Claudine protects the monastery entrance.
Mont Saint Michel was built as a medieval castle. It has two large towers to defend the entrance to the castle.
St. Michael is a surety for freedom and thus this sanctuary also became a symbol of the allied landing in Normandy during the Second World War.
POEM WRITTEN BY ONE OF OUR TOUR PARTICIPANTS IN JUNE 2001.
Mt. St.Michael
It rises up in the deceiving distance
Like a beacon to the wretched and weak
As the lighthouse at Alexandria once opened the seas
To weary travelers, drunk on sea salt and night.
The waves crash on its forgotton stones
Slowly washing away one thousand years
But Mount St. Michael is eternal.
The spirits in the catacombs sleep silent
Remembered in the chants on the monks.
As the ghostly brothers wander the halls
Drinking secrets from the ancient chalice
And tending the grapes for their moonshine wine.
So sacred a place, the stairs need guard it,
Winding in dozens up steep narrow passages
Up and up to the nearing warm skies
Til you reach a breezy gothic chapel
So high you can hear the prayers in the walls
And echoing in the lulling lowly waves
Tamed and bowing seemingly a mile beneath.
Is it a house of God or a fortress of war?
Candlelight of hope or dimness of despair?
No matter, for the people still come
The devoted, the curious and above all the lost
Searching for answers in the carvings,
A lost soul within the tombs
Or inner peace through the stained glass windows of time.
~Robyn Schwartz~ (10/23/01)
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