Page 177 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Europe

FR ANCE  175

VISITORS’ CHECKLIST
Practical Information
n Boulevard de l’Avancée
(02-33 60 14 30).
∑ ot-montsaintmichel.com
Abbey: Tel 02-33 89 80 00.
Open May–Aug: 9am–7pm; Sep–
Apr: 9:30am– 6pm. Night visits
during summer. Closed Jan 1,
May 1, Dec 25. & 5 12:15pm
Tue–Sat; 11:30am Sun. 8 =
∑ monuments-nationaux.fr
Transport
. Cloisters £ to Pontorson, then bus.
With their elegant English Purbeck marble columns,
the cloisters are a beautiful example of early
13th-century Anglo-Norman style.

. La Merveille
The main three-story monastic
complex, added to the church’s
north side in the early 13th century,
is known as La Merveille (The
Marvel). The Knights’ Room, on the
middle floor, has magnificent Gothic
rib-vaulting and finely
decorated capitals.

KEY
1 The ramparts – a series of
fortified walls with imposing
towers – were built following
attacks by the English during
the Hundred Years’ War.
2 Gabriel Tower
3 St. Aubert’s Chapel, built
on an outcrop of rock, dates from
the 15th-century and is dedicated
to Aubert, the founder of
Mont-St-Michel.
4 Tour du Roy
. Grande Rue 5 The Arcade Tower provided
Now crowded with tourists and lodgings for the abbot’s soldiers.
souvenir shops, the pilgrims’ route,
followed since the 12th century, 6 Eglise St-Pierre
climbs up past the Eglise St-Pierre 7 Liberty Tower
to the abbey gates.

174-175_EW_Europe.indd 175 14/07/16 10:14 am