A Tale of Two Islands | EUROtoday

A Tale of Two Islands begins with Mont-Saint-Michel, an ethereal granite outcrop rising dramatically from the tidal bay the place Brittany meets Normandy. Across the Channel, its non secular twin stands on England’s shore, mirroring its type and goal.

Legend has it that within the eighth century, Michael appeared to Aubert, the bishop of close by Avranches, and instructed him to construct a chapel on the island. Aubert hesitated at first, however on the third apparition, the angel pressed his finger to Aubert’s cranium, leaving a gap that’s mentioned to be seen nonetheless in relics of Aubert’s cranium in Avranches).

Shortly afterwards, the primary sanctuary was consecrated in 709. Construction of the magnificent Benedictine abbey we see at present started in 1204. Its north and south wings, ingeniously engineered to rise in tiers on the steep, rocky pinnacle, are generally known as La Merveille (The Marvel). It’s reached by way of a winding highway lined with cafés and memento retailers. Though Mount-Saint-Michel continues to be an energetic spiritual web site, most of its pilgrims are vacationers.

Cornish Counterpart

Sitting within the tides off the Cornish coast 320km away is St Michael’s Mount. Its historical past dates again to 495, when an look of St Michael guided sailors away from alluring mermaids and the island’s jagged shores. Monks and pilgrims had been drawn to the sacred web site and a small chapel was constructed within the archangel’s honor. The mystical St Michael’s Mount and Mont-Saint-Michel share similarities of their names, their secluded seaside settings and their raison d’être. Both islets are minimize off from the mainland at excessive tide and related by a causeway at low tide. Their most essential connection is that each had been affiliated with the identical spiritual order and served as locations of pilgrimage devoted to St Michael.

Both had been related in spirit after the Norman conquest of England in 1066, when William the Conqueror supported the Cornish precedence, establishing hyperlinks with Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy. Benedictine monks from Mont-Saint-Michel had been despatched to England, the place they constructed a priory on the distant shore. The reference to the abbey in Normandy weakened throughout later conflicts between England and France. In the early fifteenth century, King Henry V took management of St Michael’s Mount.

Islet Life

The abbey on Mont-Saint-Michel is a bigger and extra spectacular instance of Gothic structure than its British counterpart, a extra modest fortress maintained by the National Trust in partnership with the St Aubyn household, who’ve lived on the island because the early 1600s. Mont-Saint-Michel was declared a French historic monument within the nineteenth century and is managed by the Center des monuments nationaux. Both websites have a smattering of residents. St Michael’s Mount is dwelling to a close-knit neighborhood that helps keep the location. Mont-Saint-Michel is dwelling to a handful of monks and nuns and has its personal mayor and postal service, however a lot of the island’s inhabitants work in tourism, catering to the three million or so guests who come every year.

Lead photograph credit score: Mont Saint-Michel