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Another
very notable Benedictine abbey church is the one spectacularly
perched on the pinnacle of a rocky little island in the shallow
Bay of Mont-Saint-Michel on the coast of Normandy just east of
St. Malo in France. The abbey’s difficult situation and
battlements gave it important protection against assault in
the militarily perilous era when it was built, 12th-16th
centuries. The island and the the abbey on it could be reached
only by small (and hence unthreatening) vessels of shallow
draft until 1875, when a causeway was built giving the place
its first access to and from the mainland by foot or wheeled
vehicle. |
