Due to its spectacular architecture and its bay, Mont Saint-Michel has become a tourist landmark in Normandy , as well as one of the first in France . Its name comes from the exceptional abbey, consecrated to the archangel Saint Michel, located on a rocky rock of an island, in the estuary that forms the Couesnon River at its mouth.
Since 1979, Mont Saint-Michel and its bay have been part of the Unesco World Heritage . Also, the numerous buildings of the place that have been classified as historical monuments.
Another element that contributes to the spectacular nature of the complex are the tides , which in other times turned the mountain into an impregnable fortress. Currently access to the abbey is ensured by a road that reaches the base of the rock, since for centuries it was only accessible on foot, when the tide was low and by sea, when it was high.
The origins of the current abbey date between the 8th and 9th centuries, although the area’s past dates back to Celtic times, when some tribes came to the mountain to perform Druidic cults. During the Middle Ages , like Rome and Santiago de Compostela, it was one of the most important pilgrimage centers in the West. At the time of the Revolution it was used as a prison and at the end of the 19th century the restoration works began.
In the small medieval town that makes up Mont Saint-Michel, we can find houses and shops from the 15th and 16th centuries, a drawbridge, the church dedicated to Saint Peter from the 15th century and the great staircase that leads to the abbey, called du Grand Degré.
For some reason, this emblematic place receives more than 3 million visitors each year, including pilgrims and tourists.