Many years ago, while studying French in Junior High School, I came across a picture
of what, to my fourteen-year-old mind, seemed to be the most amazing place on earth.
The subject of the picture was Mont St Michel, an austere, and obviously ancient,
stone "castle" that appeared to be as much a product of nature as of human endeavor.
For thirty years, the image of this mysterious medieval fortress hovering above the
horizon has haunted my curiosity. On this day, I would see it for real.
We followed the backroads out of Honfleur and converged with the A13 Autoroute near
Pont l'Évêque, a place name familiar to connoisseurs of fine cheese. At Caen,
we veered southwest and drove through the heart of the Calvados region of France,
famous for apple cider. Outside of Avranches, we caught our first glimpse of Mont St
Michel. The sight was mesmerizing.
We soon picked up a small road called the Route de la Baie, which
offers a scenic approach to the island. It seemed to take forever to cover the last
few miles to the Mont because I couldn't resist repeatedly pulling over for
pictures. I captured all the mandatory shots. Mont St Michel with cattle grazing in
the foreground. Mont St Michel with cattle lazing in the foreground. Mont St Michel
with sheep grazing in the foreground. And so on. The disruption of the flat coastal
horizon by this apparition from the Middle Ages is a powerfully appealing image that
can quickly become an obsession for even the most casual photographer.
The Fortress Abbey
The real Mont St Michel is only slightly less mysterious and haunting than it seemed
to me so many years ago. It is ancient, more than one thousand years old, but it is
not a castle. It is a fortified abbey. Surrounded by quicksand and treacherous tides,
the origins of Mont St Michel are obscured by time, legend, and a modest amount of
religious propaganda. I am not the only one that has found images of this island
abbey to be compelling. Mont St Michel is the top tourist attraction in France that
is located outside of Paris.
After the Eiffel Tower, the silhouette of Mont St Michel is probably the most
recognizable in France. As one of our souvenir refrigerator magnets proclaims, this
is where the "sea meets the sky." The golden statue of the Archangel Michael (St
Michel), which crowns the abbey spire, is either just under or just over,
depending upon the tide, 500 feet from the water of the English Channel.
The abbey of Mont St Michel was founded more than twelve centuries ago. According to
legend, the Archangel Michael appeared to the Bishop of Avranches and commanded him
to construct an abbey on the rocky island near the mouth of the River Couesnon.
Construction began in the 8th century and continued for eight hundred
years as substantial additions were introduced every century or so. Later
construction completely engulfed the earliest buildings, so that the oldest exterior
structures date from the 11th century.
The synthesis of natural and man-made defenses of the island were formidable and,
despite repeated attempts, it never fell to hostile invaders. The massive granite
ramparts, constructed in the 13th century and interrupted by a single
gate, accentuated the steep terrain to create a highly defensible position. This
site was so heavily fortified that, after the revolution, it was used as a prison.
Sort of the Alcatraz of Europe. If the massive fortifications and rugged natural
setting were not formidable enough to detour unwelcomed visitors, the island is
surrounded by quicksand and some of the most powerful tides in Europe. The last
lesson in life learned by many a medieval pilgrim was that knee-deep sticky sand and
rapidly rising tides are a lethal combination. Today, a causeway, constructed in
1877, connects the island to the shore, and the only drownings around Mont St Michel
are of rental cars parked by careless tourists.
Up the Grande Rue
Mont St Michel is not just an abbey, it is also a village. It is, of course, a very
small village. A village with a single, strictly pedestrianized, street. The
Grande Rue, the path that countless medieval pilgrims have followed to the
abbey gates is now tightly packed with tourist shops and restaurants. The climb is
relentless and steep, but never lonely. This must be one of the most crowded streets
in France, if not Europe. Not all visitors make it to the top, where the village ends
and the monastery begins. Most, however, keep moving upward, toward the abbey in the
sky.
Fortunately, the Grande Rue is as picturesque as it is narrow and steep. It
reminded me of the Drosselgasse in Rüdesheim, Germany. Both streets are
narrow, crowded and lined with 15th and 16th century houses
that have been converted to tourist shops.
About halfway up the Mont, the medieval village ends and the lowest portions
of the abbey are encountered. From this point, those familiar with European
architecture will likely notice that they are now climbing through
time as well as space, at least symbolically, as the architectural style progresses
from Romanesque, to mixed Romanesque-Gothic, and culminating in pure French Gothic.
Like fossil variations in geologic strata, old and massive Romanesque-style
reinforced foundations progress to younger and lighter Gothic-style flying
buttresses. The scheme of "higher equals younger" extends to the abbey spire and the
statue of Saint-Michel with which it is crowned. Both were late 19th
century additions, and are among the youngest historically significant features on
the island.
We finally reached the top only to discover that the abbey had closed 15 minutes
earlier. Although this was one of the great disappointments of the trip, we had no
regrets about visiting Mont St Michel. In some sense, the abbey is best appreciated
from a distance. Certainly not the distance of a 14-year-old kid looking at a picture
in a book, yet not so close as to be confronted with the tacky souvenir stalls of the
Grande Rue. The view from the Route de la Baie was ideal, and in my
opinion, the highlight of the day. Close enough to see that it was real, but far
enough to maintain the illusion that this was a mysterious place inhabited by
medieval pilgrims. That's how I will always think of Mont St Michel.
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