The tidal island abbey that defied both sea and siege — Normandy's impossible citadel
Mont-Saint-Michel is one of the most photographed sights in France and one of the great architectural achievements of the medieval world — a Benedictine abbey built on a granite tidal island, its spire rising 170 metres above the bay. At spring tides the island is briefly surrounded by water and the causeway disappears; at low tide, quicksands make the bay genuinely dangerous for the uninitiated. The abbey was a pilgrimage destination throughout the Middle Ages and never fell to English attack during the Hundred Years' War, serving at times as a prison.
According to legend, the Archangel Michael appeared to Bishop Aubert of Avranches in 708 CE and instructed him to build a church on the tidal rock. A Benedictine abbey was established in 966; the current abbey church dates primarily from the 11th to 16th centuries. During the Hundred Years' War, a small garrison of 119 men held the mount against English siege for 30 years (1423–1450) — the only Norman fortification never taken by England. It was used as a political prison from the Revolution until 1863; restoration began under Viollet-le-Duc. UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979.