The 8th Wonder of the World: Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey on a Solitary French Island

By MOOK Scenic Spots Travel Life Network Editorial Team
 

Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey is located on Mont-Saint-Michel in France. This small hill is actually an island, connected to the mainland only by a causeway about one kilometer away, attracting visitors from all over the world every day.

Mont-Saint-Michel is a granite island rising from the sea between Normandy and Brittany. Viewed from the mainland, it resembles a fairytale hidden realm — with azure waters, white sandy beaches, and a cone-shaped hill rising dramatically with the architectural complex of Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey atop it, giving the place a mysterious aura. According to Celtic mythology, Mont-Saint-Michel was once a resting place for the souls of the dead and a maritime cemetery. Legend has it that Bishop Aubert of Avranches dreamed three times that the Archangel Saint Michael appeared to him, asking him to build a sanctuary in his name at the summit of the rocky mount.

Later, in 966 AD, Duke Richard I of Normandy established a Benedictine monastery here. After several reconstructions and expansions, coupled with its perilous location surrounded by cliffs and the sea, Mont-Saint-Michel became an impregnable fortress. For centuries, it served as a retreat for monks. However, due to the monastery’s long-term exploitation of local peasants, it was first seized by the public during the French Revolution and transformed from a sacred abbey into a prison. It wasn’t until 1874 that the French government designated it as a national monument, and in 1966, it was officially returned to the Benedictine monks.