The Mont Saint Michel is France's main tourist attraction outside Paris; but centuries of silting mean you can hardly tell it's an island. Sandra Ferrer details France's EUR 150 million plan to cut it off from the mainland once more.
These days Mont Saint Michel hardly feels like an island at all
The mediaeval abbey of Mont Saint Michel — a jewel of France's architectural heritage — is to become an island once again, with the start last week of a massive engineering project designed to reverse centuries of silting.
Built 1,300 years ago on a rock off the north-western Normandy coast, the Mont Saint Michel is France's main tourist attraction outside Paris. But the encroachment of surrounding mudflats has spoiled the insular character of the Benedictine abbey, which is now only cut off from the mainland at very high tides.
"Historically, the Mont was more than four kilometres from the mainland. Today it is only a few dozen metres away," said project director François-Xavier de Beaulaincourt.
What EUR 150 million gets
Experts believe that at the current rate of silting, the Mont Saint Michel would be permanently connected to the mainland — even at high tides — by 2040.
Under a 150-million-euro scheme, French engineers hope to reverse the work of generations of land reclamation and restore the abbey's original aspect by encouraging a freer flow of water around the bay.
The tides that still enclose the island are said to run faster than horses
The dyke linking the monastic community to the mainland will be replaced by a bridge, while a sophisticated new dam on the Couesnon — a tidal river which flows into the bay — will be used to flush mud and silt back out to sea.
Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin officially launched the project, which has been in the pipeline since 2003, during a visit to the abbey on Friday. Construction is due to be completed around 2012.
"After ten years of studies and preparatory work, the moment has finally come to launch this major project to develop the bay of Mont Saint Michel," Villepin said.
Climbing the 360 steps leading to the summit of the mount, Villepin said: "It is a small piece of eternity you can touch with your finger."
"Mont Saint Michel is a small piece of eternity you can touch with your finger."—Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin at the project's launch
For the three million tourists who visit the site every year, the changes will eventually mean they can no longer drive up to the walls of the Mont but will have to use a car park two kilometres away and then either walk or take a rail shuttle across the bridge.
Fifteen hectares (37 acres) of land housing the existing car parks will be returned to local wildlife and a new visitors' promenade, facing the Mont Saint Michel, built atop the dam on the River Couesnon.
Work will begin on the bridge in 2008, when the dam is expected to be completed, while the old dyke will finally be destroyed by 2012. The site will remain fully accessible throughout.
Save Mont Saint Michel!
It's not just for tourists; a small but active monastery inhabits the island
Legend has it that the rock, originally known as Mont Tombe, was cut off from the surrounding forest in prehistoric times by a massive tide. The first oratory dedicated to Saint Michael was built there in 708 and the abbey which can be seen today was put up in the 11th century.
A small community of monks keeps the monastic tradition alive today and the adjacent village counts around 60 inhabitants, all heavily dependent on the tourist trade.
"The Mont Saint Michel must remain an island. We must save it from mutilation!"—Victor Hugo in 1884
The fate of the abbey, classed a world heritage site by UNESCO, has been a matter of concern for more than 100 years, after it became clear that the dyke built in 1879 to allow easier access was only hastening the accumulation of mud and sand.
Author Victor Hugo wrote in 1884: "The Mont Saint Michel must remain an island. We must save it from mutilation!"
Local farmers prized the pasture created on the reclaimed land for their famous salt marsh ("pre-salé") lamb. But the process of silting took on alarming proportions when the River Couesnon was forced into a channel and then, 40 years ago, further restricted by a barrage.
Where do we park?
The debate over how to transport tourists back and forth to the island has been intense; even the engineering and the aesthetic of the shuttle has been subject to close public scrutiny. This autumn, the fight begins for who will win the right to run the parking lot, which will provide 4,000 parking spots at la Caserne, a lieu-dit 2km from the foot of the Mont. Bicycles won't be allowed to cross the bridge either due to lack of bike parking on the other side.
Under the engineering scheme, dubbed "Re-establishing the maritime character of Mont Saint Michel", the old barrage will be destroyed and replaced by a new hydraulic system.
The hydraulic dam will allow tidal waters to flow freely up the river but will filter them to limit the amount of sediment being carried upstream.
It will then hold back sea water as the tide recedes, before releasing a pressured stream to flush silt from the delta back out to sea.
Within two years of its completion, project organisers say the combined effect of the dam and the powerful Normandy tide will clear 1.5 million cubic metres of mud and sand from the flats surrounding the abbey — half the total target.
By around 2020, the sea bed around the abbey will have dropped by 70 centimetres, though Beaulaincourt says the Mont Saint Michel's 'maritime' aspect will be visible as soon as the works are completed.
Story reprinted from Expatica.com. June 21, 2006.
