At the Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey, located on a rocky island in Normandy, France,

 (on Mont-Saint-Michel, a rocky islet and famous sanctuary in the Manche département of the Normandy région, of France, off the coast of Normandy.) It lies 41 miles (66 km) north of Rennes and 32 miles (52 km) east of Saint-Malo. Around its base are medieval walls and towers above which rise the clustered buildings of the village with the ancient abbey crowning the mount. One of the more popular tourist attractions in France, Mont-Saint-Michel was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979. Saint Michael's Mount) is located about one kilometer (0.6 miles) from the country's northwestern coast. It is at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches. It is 247 acres (100 ha) in size. People that live there are called the Montois.

+ The island has had strategic fortifications since ancient times. The name Mont-Saint-Michel comes from the monastery built there in the eighth century CE. The way in which the town is built is an example of how feudal society worked. At the top there is God, the abbey and monastery. Below this, there are the great halls, then stores and houses. At the bottom, outside the walls, there are the houses of fishermen and farmers.

+ Mont-Saint-Michel is one of France's most famous landmarks. Every year, more than three million people visit it. In prehistoric times, the Mont was on dry land. It is now a rocky tidal island. Sea levels became higher and erosion changed the landscape of the coast.

+ Mont-Saint-Michel is almost circular and consists of a granite outcrop rising sharply (to 256 feet [78 meters]) out of Mont-Saint-Michel Bay (between Brittany and Normandy). Before the construction of the 3,000-foot causeway that connects the island to land, it was difficult to reach because of quicksand and very fast-rising tides. The causeway, however, has become a barrier to the removal of material by the tides, resulting in higher sandbanks between the islet and the coast.

+ The island was originally called Mont-Tombe but became known as Mont-Saint-Michel in the 8th century, when St. Aubert, bishop of Avranches, built an oratory there after having a vision of the archangel St. Michael. It rapidly became a pilgrimage center, and in 966 a Benedictine abbey was built there. In 1203 it was partly burned when King Philip II of France tried to capture the mount. He compensated the monks by paying for the construction of the monastery known as La Merveille (“The Wonder”).

+ The island, which was fortified in 1256, resisted sieges during the Hundred Years’ War between England and France (1337–1453) and the French Wars of Religion (1562–98). The monastery declined in the 18th century, and only seven monks were living there when it was dissolved during the French Revolution (1787–99). The abbey church that towers over the island has an 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque nave and an elegant choir in Flamboyant Gothic style (built 1450–1521). The tower and spire, crowned by a statue of St. Michael, were added in the 19th century.