Mont-Saint-Michel: A Memory and a Dream

An Essay from Travel Writing

Arriving in Mont-Saint-Michel feels like something out of a dream, or a memory. I remember first hearing about the tidal island in a documentary1 in an early high school French class. It arose again in the 1990 film Mindwalk in junior year philosophy. I had been imagining setting foot on those medieval stones for so long the longing took physical form, and now that I’ve visited, the memory of having been there mingles with the memory of desiring to go, until it all blends into a hazy, ocean-scented reverie, the cries of seagulls echoing at the edge of hearing.

I got off the shuttle at the end of the passerelle, and time slipped out of joint. Tourists passed me by; dogs stretched to the ends of leashes; selfie sticks waved in the air. I could feel the outer world through them and knew that time still existed: the shuttles would come and go every fifteen minutes, and those not staying overnight would continue on home or to other things, their sightseeing over for the weekend. The tides washed out, and the Mont pulled me in. I couldn’t help but feel that I was not one of them, these ephemeral visitors. I was there and present as I had never been present before. I was a high schooler imagining an unknown distant future. I was the me sitting here typing this now, living my present in past tense, third person. 

Mont-Saint-Michel was originally called Mont Tombe and has always been a place connected with venerating and praying for the deceased. In 708, the archangel Michael appeared to St. Aubert, the bishop of Avranches, in a vision and asked him to build a sanctuary on the Mont, then a barren pyramidal island. St. Michael’s patronage continued the tradition in connection with the dead, as the ‘psychopomp’ archangel is known for weighing the souls of the dead and guiding them to heaven. In the 10th century, the Duke of Normandy established a community of Benedictine monks on the Mont, and they built the first church in 966. The village began to develop. In the 11th century, four crypts and the abbey church were constructed. After the conquest of Normandy, a donation from King Phillippe Auguste of France permitted further additions, including the monks’ refectory and cloister, which form part of the three-storey section of the abbey called La Merveille. The ramparts and fortifications were added next and allowed Mont-Saint-Michel to withstand a 30-year siege by the English during the Hundred Years’ War, establishing the Mont as a symbolic place of French identity and strength. 

During the French Revolution, the Mont became the Bastille of the Seas, housing 14,000 prisoners between 1789 and 1863. The tides and quicksand acted as natural, dangerous barriers to escape. The prison was eventually closed at least in part at the request of romantic writers and artists, including Victor Hugo. 

“Around us, everywhere as far as the eye can see, infinite space, the blue horizon of the sea, the green horizon of the earth, the clouds, the air, the freedom, the birds flying on all wings, […] and then, suddenly, there, in a crest of an old wall, above our heads, through a barred window, the pale figure of a prisoner. Never have I felt more keenly than here the cruel antitheses that man sometimes makes with nature. ”

—Victor Hugo, letter to the poet Louise Bertin written on 27 June 1836 from Mont-Saint-Michel.

Following the prison’s closure, the Service des Monuments Historiques restored the Mont and opened it to tourism. A road dyke was constructed in 1879, alongside new buildings in the Norman and Gothic revival styles. The gold-gilded statue of St. Michael, whose sword pierces Hugo’s infinite space and freedom, was added to the bell tower in 1897. Between 1928 and 1938, the architectural pastiches were destroyed to restore the village’s medieval appearance. During WWII, Mont-Saint-Michel was occupied by the Germans but not destroyed, becoming once again a symbol of France’s enduring resistance. In 1966, the religious community returned; they’ve been the Monastic Fraternities of Jerusalem since 2001. Today, five monks and seven nuns live at the abbey. A dam was built in 1969 in order to preserve the Mont’s island nature, as human developments had lessened the ability of the river Couesnon and the tides to wash sediments out to sea, which in turn prevented the tides from turning the Mont into an island each day. Mont-Saint-Michel was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1979. 

As I entered the abbey, I was stunned by its simple, breathtaking beauty. The tour begins in the guardroom, installed during the Hundred Years’ War; this fortified entrance was once where the monks greeted the pilgrims who came to offer their dead to the care of the archangel. The Grand Degré staircase leads to the Saut-Gaultier terrace, then the West Terrace, which offers a view from some 80 meters above sea level. Seagulls perched on the ramparts, unbothered by the tourists. The tide was going out, and the bright sun cast reflections on the still-wet sand, making it scintillate like ice. I lingered outside with the view for a while before turning inside to the abbey church, where I was stunned once more. The vaulted ceilings were hardly decorated in comparison to churches like Église de la Madeleine that I had seen the day before in Paris. But there was something poignant about this bare, weathered old stone and the silence it held within itself that made it so much more attractive than the gilded glory of those other churches. It had just been this place, the sea, its small religious community, and God for centuries.

The visit continues to the cloister. Symmetrical rows of 137 columns lined a vibrant, spring-green courtyard of grass, open to the blue, blue sky. Next is the monks’ refectory; the Salle des Hôtes, used to host visiting kings and nobles; the Crypt of the Great pillars that supports the choir of the abbey church; St. Martin’s Crypt; the Wheel Room, which houses a large wheel used to bring food up to the inmates during the prison period; the Saint-Étienne chapel; the north-south staircase; the monks’ promenoir; the scriptorium; the chaplaincy, used to receive pilgrims and the poor; and the cellar, which now holds the gift shop. The visit ends once again on the ramparts with a view of the bay. 

Following the abbey visit, I wandered through the town, discovering little alleys and back staircases that connect the private parts of the island. There are about twenty permanent residents of Mont-Saint-Michel, plus a number of cats. After dinner hours, the day’s tourists began to disperse, leaving the island to those of us staying overnight. I went out to the passerelle to watch the sunset over the bay, painting the world in a perfect gradient of orange to yellow to deep twilight blue. The next morning, my day outside the flow of real time came to its inevitable end as the high tide lapped through the gate of the medieval fortifications. I walked across the passerelle, stopping every five steps to peer back at the Mont rising above the water, spire ever stretching into the sky, blue as a dream, endless as a memory.

1. Globe Trekker - France : Justine Shapiro, Christina Chang: Movies & TV.

   https://www.amazon.com/Globe-Trekker-France-Justine-Shapiro/dp/B00011ZBU2. Accessed 19 Mar. 2025.

Works Cited

CMN. History of the Monument - CMN. 

https://www.abbaye-mont-saint-michel.fr/en/discover/history-of-the-monument. Accessed 5 Mar. 2025.

CMN. Le cloître, entre ciel et mer - CMN. 

https://www.abbaye-mont-saint-michel.fr/decouvrir/le-cloitre-entre-ciel-et-mer. Accessed 5 Mar. 2025.

“History.” Mont Saint-Michel Normandy Destination, 

https://www.ot-montsaintmichel.com/en/discover/visit-the-mont-saint-michel/visit-

the-mont-saint-michel/history/. Accessed 5 Mar. 2025.

“Mont Saint Michel Abbey.” Centre des Monuments Nationaux. 

What You Might Not Know About Mont-Saint-Michel – France’s Famous Monastery. Directed by DW Travel, 2023. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH1kkrlo7yk.