MONT SAINT-MICHEL ❘ ONE THOUSAND YEARS
“DURING THE REVOLUTION, NAPOLEON HAD THE ABBEY TRANSFORMED INTO A BRUTAL PRISON”
too, and in the 19th century, the novelist Victor Hugo was among those campaigning for the abbey’s restoration.
As the world celebrates the monument’s 1,000th anniversary, and the special exhibition, ‘The Archangel’s Abode’, runs until November 5 in its honour, let’s go back to where it first began. Saint Aubert is credited with founding Mont Saint-Michel. Back in 708AD, when the location was nothing more than a derelict tidal island, he repeatedly had a vision of the Archangel Michael contacting him and commanding him to build an oratory there. He refused, until the archangel is alleged to have poked him in the head, burning a hole through his skull. Spookily, the remains of Saint Aubert’s skull, with what appears to be a hole in it, is available for viewing at the Basilica of Saint-Gervais in nearby Avranches. Terrifyingly, the likely explanation is that Aubert was subjected to trepanning – an ancient and primitive remedy for various health complaints. In bygone centuries, some held superstitious beliefs that drilling a hole into the head and removing a piece of bone could ease pressure pain underneath, thereby curing headaches, epilepsy and other conditions. In practice, trepanning was dangerous and often fatal.
A COLOURFUL PAST
The sinister question mark over what really happened to Saint Aubert’s skull can make for a chilling visit, although undoubtedly an historically rich one, with the nearby Scriptorial d’Avranches containing a library of 200 medieval manuscripts from the abbey, dating back as far as the 8th century.
Back at Mont Saint-Michel, you’ll find a tiny chapel dedicated to Saint Aubert’s memory. But the building work he put in was just the beginning: the space quickly became too small for the number of pilgrims who worshipped there, and in 1023, Abbot Hildebert took on the architectural challenge of building atop a rock as he began to develop the abbey’s church further, beginning with the crypt beneath the choir. In the years that followed, English invaders were repelled, including during the Hundred Years War, due to the strong defensive walls that were crafted. The abbey’s current exhibition, which runs until November 5, displays a fascinating reproduction of the majestic building as it would have appeared during the 17th and 18th centuries – even including the consequences of a fire, which wiped out three of the church’s bays.
46 ❘ FRANCE TODAY Oct/Nov 2023
IMAGES © THOMAS THIBAUT, CHRISTIAN GLUCKMAN / CENTRE DES MONUMENTS NATIONAUX
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