A heaven on earth between sea and sky.

High place of Christendom since its foundation, the Benedictine abbey towers at the top a granite islet located in the middle of the bay, periodically encircled by the sea at the time of the spring-tides.

Founded in 708, the abbey had been impregnated with more than a 1000-year spiritual presence. Following the French Revolution (1789), the Clergy's goods were confiscated, the monks were chased away and the monastic building were shamefully transformed into a prison until 1874. From that date, the Ancient Monuments Departments started their restoration and their progressive opening to the public.

Real technical feat, the construction of the abbey is one of the most ambitious achievements of the Christian world as regards its architectural plan and its symbolic programme.

Mont-Saint-Michel is also a village huddled at the bottom of the rock, overlooked by the protective abbey on one side and surrounded by a solid rampart on the other. The space constraints are the origin of a labyrinth of narrow alleys, given rhythm by steps, offering picturesque viewpoints.