Mont Saint-Michel Abbey
Discover one of the wonders of medieval architecture.
The Grand Projet du
Mont Saint-Michel
(Text from the book "Les Carnets de cuisine de La Mère Poulard au Mont Saint-Michel depuis 1888". Author: Eric Vannier).
"Nature thwarted
Man is often at odds with nature. In the 19th century, man's priority was to feed his people. Dutch specialists in land reclamation (the reclamation of land from the sea) found that the Bay of Mont-Saint-Michel lent itself perfectly to this operation.
The land reclaimed from the sea was particularly rich in natural sediments that had accumulated over thousands of years, making it fertile.
Part of the bay was thus polderized, with the construction of dikes to isolate the land from the sea. At the end of the century, the road dike linking Mont-Saint-Michel to the mainland was also built. Dams were then built on the coastal rivers.
These structures prevented the bay from being swept away, as it had been in the past, by sea currents and the natural flushing effect of the three rivers that flow into the bay: the Couesnon, Sée and Sélune.
Le Mont in danger
These fundamental changes to the bay led to an acceleration in the silting-up of Mont-Saint-Michel. Every year, the tides bring in a million cubic metres of sediment. Most of this sediment is naturally carried away by ocean currents, then flushed by the rivers that sweep across the bay at low tide. Deprived of these natural flushes, the Mont-Saint-Michel This made it increasingly difficult for the water to rise, and accelerated the colonization of the shores by vegetation. If nothing had been done, Mont-Saint-Michel would have been gradually absorbed by the mainland.
For almost half a century, several attempts have been made to develop the banks of the Couesnon, followed by the construction of structures in the bay. In 1969, an attempt was made to halt tidal flooding into the Couesnon bed, which had the effect of accelerating the silting-up of the bay, as the sea brought in more and more sediment, which was gradually covered by vegetation. Mont-Saint-Michel was in danger of rapidly losing its island character.
The great Mont-Saint-Michel project
In 1995, a major project was launched to allow the sea and rivers to reclaim the bay and return Mont-Saint-Michel to the water. A tidal barrage was built to give the Couesnon river even greater power in its role as the bay's immense flushing channel.
The dam has been open to the public since 2009. The dam is equipped with multiple gates to allow sediment to settle before releasing the water. It also ensures the preservation of species, thanks to two fish passes. Natural basins dug upstream to increase the water storage capacity of the Couesnon river further enhanced the action, and a footbridge replaced the road dike, allowing sea currents to flow around Mont-Saint-Michel. A shuttle bus system was also set up from the mainland, to avoid the congestion of cars previously parked at the foot of the Mont, and to open up the view.
The major project to restore the maritime character of Mont-Saint-Michel was completed in autumn 2015 with the inauguration of the various structures by French President François Hollande. Mont-Saint-Michel once again became an island."