When was MontStMichel built?

Answer 1

Gradually.

Bishop Aubert built an oratory on the island in the early 8th century. This was replaced by an abbey in the 9th. That building became the crypt of the Romanesque abbey, built from 1017 to 1144. The church known as La Merveille went up between 1212 and 1228. Various monastic buildings were constructed in the 13th to 15th centuries, the defenses of the entrance in the 14th century, and the Romanesque chancel collapsed and was rebuilt in Flamboyant (late Gothic) style from 1446 to 1521. The nave of the church was shortened in 1780, and the tower, spire and the original statue of St. Muchael on the pinnacle date from 1897.

The statue itself was replaced around the Millenium, and I saw a TV interview with the steplejack who fixed it in place, 500 feet above the sea. 'When it was done', he said, 'I sat on Saint Michael's shoulder and surveyed the world.'