Mont Saint-Michel
From pilgrimage site to world-famous tourist destination
The legend of Mont Saint-Michel...
The story begins in 708, when the Archangel Saint-Michel appears to Bishop Aubert and orders him to build a sanctuary on Mont Tombe, a rocky islet in the middle of an immense bay battered by the world's highest tides.
A remarkable UNESCO-listed architectural ensembleMont Saint-Michel was born. Over the next thousand years, a succession of ever more beautiful and audacious buildings were erected, creating a unique and marvellous architectural ensemble. In turn monastery, cultural and spiritual center of Christianity, place of pilgrimage and devotion, citadel and prison, Mont Saint-Michel is part of French history. In 1972, as a tribute to its prestigious past and remarkable architecture, UNESCO declared Mont Saint-Michel a masterpiece of humanity's natural and cultural heritage.