Mont Saint Michel

clipped from www.ot-montsaintmichel.com forms a tower in the heart of an immense bay invaded by the highest tides in Europe. clipped from www.pitt.edu clipped from www.pitt.edu clipped from www.ot-montsaintmichel.com Aubert, Bishop of Avranches built and consecrated a small church on the 16th October 709. In 966 a community of Benedictines settled on the rock at the request of the Duke of Normandy and the pre-Romanesque church was built before the year one thousand. In the 11th century, the Romanesque abbey church was founded over a set of crypts where the rock comes to an apex, and the first monastery buildings were built up against its north wall. In the 14th century, the Hundred Years War made it necessary to protect the abbey behind a set of military constructions, enabling it to hold out against a siege lasting 30 years. The Abbey was turned into a prison during the days of the French Revolution and Empire, and needed to be restored before the end of the 19th century. UNESCO has classed the Mont Saint-Michel as a world heritage in 1979 and this mecca of tourism welcomes more than three million visitors a year.