Friday, January 2, 2009

Mont St Michel in France

The Magnificent Mont St Michel, originally callled Mont Tombe, has played an important role in history for almost 1500 years. It was an early stronghold of Rome until AD 460. Mont St Michel was ransacked by the Franks around the year 700.

In the year 933 William I annexed the region including Mont St Michel for Normandy and remained under Norman control during their conquest of England in 1066.

As reformation fervor waned the abbey lost it's significance and the Abbey of Mont St Michel was turned into a prison for several decades, closing in 1863.

Mont St Michel is now a Unesco World Heritage site, recognized for it's unique role in geographical as well as human history.