Mont-Saint-Michel, Normandy

Mont-Saint-Michel, Normandy – February 2022

Le Mont-Saint-Michel island is the second most visited tourist location outside of Paris (the first is the Versailles Palace). It is referred to as a commune tidal islet (small island) in Normandy, France, in the Bay of Mont-Saint-Michel.

It is about one kilometre (half a mile) from the shoreline of France, at the mouth of the Couesnon River near the town of Avranches.

The circumference of the island is 960 metres (3,150 feet), and its highest point is 92 metres (302 feet) above sea level. The island covers an area of 7 hectares (17 acres) and the mainland part of Mont-Saint-Michel is 393 hectares (971 acres), so the total area is 400 hectares (988 acres).

It belongs to the commune of Mont-Saint-Michel, in the Manche department, with a population of 30, and the Organisation of World Heritage Cities. It was classified as a historical monument in 1874.

UNESCO listed the island, and surrounding bay, on the World Heritage Sites in 1979. The French government protects over 60 buildings within the commune as historical monuments in France.

It was accessible, on foot, only during low tide. Now there is walkway bridge for shuttle buses, tourists, and locals.

It is thought to date back to the year 708, when it was built by Aubert, the Bishop of Avranches. The Benedictines settled there in the 10^th century. The inhabitants fended off English attacks in 1433 and was never conquered during the Hundred Years’ War.

The island is made of leucogranite.

MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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