Magnificent Fortress in Normandy Transforms Into an Island Every 18 Years
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This is Le Mont Saint-Michel, a monastery in Normandy that’s over 1,200 years old. The
interior looks like something out of Game of Thrones.
Though now connected to the mainland via erosion, this was once a part-time island
roughly 600 meters off of the coast; during low tide it was accessible via
land, but come high tide, you needed a boat. This unusual geographical feature
had military appeal, making it the site of a modest stronghold in the 6th
Century. But in the 8th Century ground was broken to build a
monastery there instead, and it took nearly 200 years just to get this modest
structure built on the highest point:
By the 11th Century, the King of Normandy brought in Italian architect
William de Volpiano to design an impressive Romanesque church, the construction
of which took another century:
Over the next few hundred years, the structure was further upgraded and expanded, initially for defensive purposes. (Mont Saint-Michel reportedly withstood a 30-year siege in the 14th Century.) Parts of the Romanesque church were subsequently torn down and replaced with Gothic-style structures. Sadly, by the 18th Century it no longer functioned as a place of worship and was instead converted into an island prison, like some French pre-Alcatraz.
By the 20th Century the prison had shut down, monks had moved back in, and the structures were once again upgraded.
Today erosion means that most of the time, Mont Saint-Michel is no longer an island,
but connected to the mainland by both land and a manmade bridge.
But Mother Nature’s a bit fickle. Every 18 years the tide starts to recede…
…and the site is once again transformed into an island fortress.
Last
Saturday was Zero Day, and as the waters around it shrank, Mont Saint-Michel
was once again besieged…by tourists.
