Inside the abbey
What to see inside Mont-Saint-Michel abbey
The Merveille, the cloister, the crypts — and how long to allow for the abbey.
See dates and tours on Viator ↗A short history before the climb
A sanctuary was first founded on the rock in 708 by Bishop Aubert of Avranches; Benedictine monks established the abbey from 966 and built upward over the following centuries. In the 11th century the Italian architect William of Volpiano designed the Romanesque church, daringly placing the transept crossing at the very top of the mount, which is why the building needed enormous supporting crypts beneath it.
The church, stacked on crypts
The weight of the church above meant deep underground chapels and crypts had to be built to carry it — the engineering trick that makes the whole site possible is visible in the Gros Piliers crypt, where massive columns take the load of the choir overhead.
La Merveille
In 1204 a Breton army allied to the French king besieged the Mont and the fire it set spread to the abbey. Philip Augustus then granted funds for a rebuild in the new Gothic style; the result is the three-tiered monastic complex known as La Merveille — the Marvel — holding the monks' refectory, the knights' hall and the cloister.
The cloister
Slender columns set in a staggered double row frame a small garden, with openings looking out over the bay; it is the room many visitors linger in longest.
How long to plan
Allow a good hour or more inside the abbey itself. The abbey's own notes put the walk from the car parks to its entrance at 45 minutes to an hour, so the approach plus the abbey is comfortably a half-day.
Two sieges it survived
English forces besieged the Mont twice during the Hundred Years' War without taking it, the second time from 1433 with wrought-iron bombards under Thomas Scales; two bombards abandoned in that siege are still on display on the island.