• On the occasion of the millennium of its abbey, Mont Saint-Michel hosts a major exhibition and several events.
  • The building erected in 1023 by Benedictine monks is shaped on the rocks and presents an atypical architecture shaped over the centuries.
  • Some crypts were built to hold the choir that was in danger of collapsing.

It is an incredible place implanted in an incredible environment. Like those women and men who have told that "everything suits them", the abbey of Mont Saint-Michel is a jewel that dazzles you every time you see it. Even if it were placed on the edge of the highway in the suburbs of Saint-Étienne, the monument would be able to brighten all its surroundings. So imagine him, posed in the middle of a huge wild bay, toasting a strange rock as if out of nowhere. Add to this the effort of 300 steps to climb to get there and you will understand the wow effect that the abbey of Mont Saint-Michel can cause in its visitors. In 2021, more than 600,000 people had pushed its doors to discover the bowels of the abbey and get lost in its corridors and crypts.



In 2023, the monument could do even more as it celebrates its first millennium. This anniversary will be celebrated for several months with a series of events dedicated to this timeless monument, classified as a historical monument and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A work begun by the less a thousand years ago

Let's first take the time for a little caveat. With a very rich history, Mont Saint-Michel is still the subject of lively debates between specialists who continue to quarrel over the memory of the place. Legend has it that the story of the so-called Mount Tomb began in 708 AD when the archangel Michael made several appearances in the dreams of Bishop Aubert, asking him to build him a sanctuary on the mount. The construction of the abbey began in 1023 under the direction of Benedictine monks. The mount became an important place of pilgrimage where Christians came to ask St. Michael for protection.


Perched on its rock, the abbey is also the object of many covetousness. To protect it, ramparts were erected at its feet, making the building a fortress of the Duchy of Normandy during the Middle Ages that repelled the English sieges. These fortifications will not prevent damage. In 1421, the Romanesque choir of the church collapsed and was not rebuilt until a century later. These multiple constructions and reconstructions give the abbey a singular aspect of mixture of eras and inspirations. "The abbey is an architectural feat. Several generations of builders took turns to rebuild the abbey church after each collapse, each fire. The East and West crypts, for example. It is known that they were built to hold the choir upright. We brought the stones from the Chausey Islands to erect them on the rocky slopes, "says François Saint-James, one of the guides of the Wonder.

"An extremely complex construction"

The man is very, very well informed about the history of the abbey. However, he does not know when the religious monument was consecrated. "For centuries, monks celebrated it on October 17. But we have no trace, no precise date of his consecration, "concedes the guide. This is also why the teams of the public establishment of Mont Saint-Michel did not choose a date to celebrate this millennium but spread the events over several months. A major exhibition entitled "The Abode of the Archangel" starts this Saturday, May 20 to show what visitors are not used to seeing. "The Mount contains hidden objects that are not visible to the general public and will be presented as part of this exhibition. I am thinking in particular of angels carved in the fifteenth century. I'm not sure they've ever been exposed," says Mathilde Labattue, curator at the DRAC.



At the turn of the exhibition, the visitor will be able to discover some secrets not always known to the general public. "It's an extremely complex construction that has evolved a lot. The Mount served as a prison. It took a lot of repair work in the nineteenth century to restore it to the image we know today," continues Mathilde Labattue. The curator recalls in particular that the arrow of the archangel has not always been there. "We sometimes tend to forget it, but the physiognomy of the mountain has evolved a lot. Some murals are gone forever." The public institution managing the establishment is currently working on an augmented reality tour that will allow you to discover the abbey as it was before. Until it is ready, you can enjoy the show with your eyes, they will thank you.

  • Society
  • Mont-Saint-Michel
  • Normandy
  • Brittany
  • Heritage
  • Religion
  • UNESCO World Heritage
  • History
  • Historical monument
  • Rennes
  • Ille-et-Vilaine