Useless Mont Saint-Michel Encyclopedia
1. yes it is touristy . Although ticket sales figures for access to the abbey are set at just over 1,200,000 a year, it is estimated that the actual number of people who come to see it exceeds 3,000,000.
two. It is so called because the abbey itself is consecrated to the Archangel Saint Michael and, therefore, a golden statue of him crowns the highest point of the bell tower.
3. The stature of this VIP angel rises at more than 170 meters of altitude.
yes it is touristy
Four. Since we are, the rest of its measures are: 960 meters in circumference and a surface of 97 hectares . Although the most useful magnitude for the traveler is the 1.8 kilometers that they have to walk if they want to avoid paying for parking on the islet (between €6.30 for two hours and €12.50 for the whole day).
5. Inside is a whole sample of souvenir shops, with a total of 24 establishments in just 300 meters from Grand Rue.
6. But aside from these drawbacks, visit is worth it , as evidenced by its inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1979.
Although only about 40 people live
7. In fact, it was one of the first French monuments to inaugurate this recognition. In the pack there was also the Palace of Versailles or chartres cathedral.
8. Before it was an abbey, it is believed that the legendary scissy forest and that the mountain rose above the trees. Its evolution to the bay is explained by the strong tide of equinox of the year 709 and the rise of the rivers that have their estuary in this enclave.
9. Being a tourist candy, Brittany and Normandy have fought to have it within their borders, although in the end the geographical criterion was imposed which states that everything east of the River Cousneson is Norman land. Well Amen.
10. Only 40 people live on Mont Saint-Michel.
The island of the marshes
eleven. Before the Christianization arrived, the Gauls already considered that the mount was sacred , erected monoliths in honor of the god **Belenus (the sun) ** and placed a cemetery on its slopes.
12. During the Late Middle Ages they rose a succession of shrines as well as a small monastery that placed the Mont Saint-Michel as one of the essential pilgrimage destinations in all of France.
13. In the 13th century, Bretons, Normans and English they fought for this strategic enclave in different wars, causing the mountain and its interior to be fortified. Since then, he has never been conquered again. This security allowed the Flamboyant Gothic to proliferate and the current abbey to be built.
An object of desire for pilgrims
14. With the triumph of the French Revolution, the monastery was closed and it became a jail.
fifteen. victor hugo and other contemporary artists lobbied and managed to get the prison closed in 1863, giving birth to a new era dedicated to tourism.
16.One of its most frequent and prolific visitors was Claude Debussy . That is why it is believed that one of his most brilliant preludes, the 'Submerged Cathedral', is inspired by this place and not so much by the legend of the city of Ys.
It became a prison
17. Hollywood has not pampered its iconic postcard too much and even disrespects it. In fact, in armageddon they locate the mount in Ireland confused by the shepherds who bring the sheep to graze in the bay. Terrence Malick, in his **movie** To the wonder (the one that came after The Tree of Life), he does pay her particular tribute, making the Mont one more protagonist in the relationship between Ben Affleck and Olga Kurylenko.
to the wonder
18. However, most modern video games do extol and use his image. In assassins creed He even gets to star in one of the multiplayer maps.
According to Assassin's Creed...
19. In 2015, Mont Saint-Michel dreams of not having to look at the tides every day and be, forever, an island. This project includes the construction of a dam to divert and control the Cousneson as well as the process of desanding the entire bay and removing the thick wall on which the road was based. has already been inaugurated new access system , with a bridge that seems to float on the water designed by Dietmar Feichtinger . In this way, the great tides like the one it will suffer until the end of March will not be the only ones causing the mountain to become an island.
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The new bridge that connects Saint Michel with the world