Mount Saint Michel in France

Mont-Saint-Michel was used in the sixth and seventh centuries as an Armorican stronghold of Romano-Breton culture and power, until it was ransacked by the Franks, thus ending the trans-channel culture that had stood since the departure of the Romans in AD 460.
Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey, albumen print, ca. 1865-1895

Before the construction of the first monastic establishment in the 8th century, the island was called "monte tombe". According to legend, St. Michael the Archangel appeared to St. Aubert, bishop of Avranches, in 708 and instructed him to build a church on the rocky islet. Aubert repeatedly ignored the angel's instruction, until St. Michael burned a hole in the bishop's skull with his finger.

The mount gained strategic significance in 933 when William "Long Sword", William I, Duke of Normandy, annexed the Cotentin Peninsula, definitively placing the mount in Normandy. It is depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry, which commemorates the 1066 Norman conquest of England. Ducal patronage financed the spectacular Norman architecture of the abbey in subsequent centuries.

Mont Saint Michel in France

In 1067, the monastery of Mont-Saint-Michel gave its support to duke William of Normandy in his claim to the throne of England. It was rewarded with properties and grounds on the English side of the Channel, including a small island located at the west of Cornwall, which, modelled after the Mount, became a Norman priory named St Michael's Mount of Penzance.

During the Hundred Years' War the English made repeated assaults on the island but were unable to seize it due to the abbey's improved fortifications. Les Michelettes, two wrought-iron bombards left by the English in their failed 1423–24 siege of Mont-Saint-Michel, are still displayed near the outer defense wall.

When Louis XI of France founded the Order of Saint Michael in 1496 he intended that the abbey church of Mont Saint-Michel be the chapel for the order, but because of its great distance from Paris his intention could never be realized.
Some of the old buildings in the village

The wealth and influence of the abbey extended to many daughter foundations, including St Michael's Mount in Cornwall. However, its popularity and prestige as a centre of pilgrimage waned with the Reformation, and by the time of the French Revolution there were scarcely any monks in residence. The abbey was closed and converted into a prison, initially to hold clerical opponents of the republican régime. High-profile political prisoners followed, but by 1836 influential figures, including Victor Hugo, had launched a campaign to restore what was seen as a national architectural treasure. The prison was finally closed in 1863, and the mount was declared a historic monument in 1874. The Mont-Saint-Michel and its bay were added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1979, as it was listed with criteria such as cultural, historical, and architectural significance, as well as human-created and natural beauty.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_Saint-Michel

Mont-Saint-Michel, Normandy, France
Mont-Saint-Michel, whose famous silhouette is a familiar icon of France, is a rocky islet situated 1 mile off the Normandy coast, best known for its ...
www.discoverfrance.net/France/.../Mont-St-Michel.shtml

Mont Saint-Michel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Le Mont-Saint-Michel (English: Saint Michael's Mount) is a rocky tidal island and a commune in Normandy, France. It is located approximately one kilometre ...
Formation - Tidal island - History - Design
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_Saint-Michel

Mont St-Michel, France
1 Oct 2009 ... Mont St-Michel: History, description, photos and visitor information for Mont St-MichelNormandy, France.
www.sacred-destinations.com/france/mont-st-michel

Mont-St-Michel Vacations, Tourism and Mont-St-Michel, France ...
Mont-St-Michel, Basse-Normandie: TripAdvisor has 860 impartial reviews and articles on what to do, where to eat, and where to stay when in Mont-St-Michel.
www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g196646-Mont_St_Michel_Basse_Normandie_Normandy-Vacations.html

Access - Site officiel de l'office de tourisme du mont saint michel
From Caen use A84 to Le Mont Saint-Michel. Normandie. FRANCE. Manche. Cherbourg ... Connection by bus from Pontorson to Le Mont Saint-Michel (9 kms). ...
www.ot-montsaintmichel.com/acces_gb.htm

Mount St. Michael
Le Mont-Saint-Michel, rocky, cone-shaped islet in northwestern France, in the Gulf of Saint-Malo, connected by a causeway with the mainland. ...
www.castles.org/castles/Europe/Western.../France/france2.htm

Mont Saint-Michel, France Pictures - Europe stock photos, fine art ...
Pictures of Mont Saint-Michel, France. Part of a gallery of color pictures of Europe by professional photographer QT Luong, available as prints or for ...
www.terragalleria.com/.../france/mont-saint-michel/mont-saint-michel.html

Mont St. Michel, France - Travel Photos by Galen R Frysinger ...
Mount Saint Michel. Saint Michel. entrance to the street in the town. More Photos of the town street ... Return to Grand European's Tour of France ...
www.galenfrysinger.com/france_mont_st_michel.htm

Mont-Saint-Michel and its Bay - UNESCO World Heritage Centre
Le Mont-Saint-Michel redeviendra une île (le journal Ouest-France) (only in French) · mont-saint-michel.monuments-nationaux.fr ...
whc.unesco.org/en/list/80

Abbaye du Mont-Saint-Michel - Centre des monuments nationaux
Come and discover the Mont-Saint-Michel and its abbey on the border between Normandy and Brittany, one of the first sites to obtain UNESCO World Heritage ...
www.monuments-nationaux.fr › Home › Monuments

Book results for Mont Saint Michel in France
Mont Saint Michel and Chartres: With an in ... - by Henry Adams, Ralph Adams Cram - 450 pages
Tides of Mont St Michel - by Roger Vercel

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Big Ben Clock Tower London

Big Ben is the nickname for the great bell of the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, and is often extended to refer to the clock or the clock tower as well.Big Ben is the largest four-faced chiming clock and the third-tallest free-standing clock tower in the world.It celebrated its 150th anniversary in May 2009 (the clock itself first ticking on 31 May 1859), during which celebratory events took place.

The nearest London Underground station is Westminster on the Circle, District and Jubilee lines.

A clock tower was built at Westminster in 1288, with the fine-money of Ralph Hengham, Chief Justice of the King's Bench.

The present tower was raised as a part of Charles Barry's design for a new palace, after the old Palace of Westminster was destroyed by fire on the night of 16 October 1834.

http://www.visitingdc.com/london/big-ben-picture.asp

The new Parliament was built in a Neo-gothic style. Although Barry was the chief architect of the Palace, he turned to Augustus Pugin for the design of the clock tower, which resembles earlier Pugin designs, including one for Scarisbrick Hall. The design for the Clock Tower was Pugin's last design before his final descent into madness and death, and Pugin himself wrote, at the time of Barry's last visit to him to collect the drawings: "I never worked so hard in my life for Mr Barry for tomorrow I render all the designs for finishing his bell tower & it is beautiful."The tower is designed in Pugin's celebrated Gothic Revival style, and is 96.3 metres (315.9 ft) high (roughly 16 stories).

The bottom 61 metres (200 ft) of the Clock Tower's structure consists of brickwork with sand coloured Anston limestone cladding. The remainder of the tower's height is a framed spire of cast iron. The tower is founded on a 15-metre (49 ft) square raft, made of 3-metre (9.8 ft) thick concrete, at a depth of 4 metres (13 ft) below ground level. The four clock faces are 55 metres (180 ft) above ground. The interior volume of the tower is 4,650 cubic metres (164,200 cubic feet).

Despite being one of the world's most famous tourist attractions, the interior of the tower is not open to the general public due to security concerns,although from time to time press and other VIPs are granted access. However, the tower has no elevator, so those escorted must climb the 334 limestone stairs to the top.

Because of changes in ground conditions since construction (notably tunnelling for the Jubilee Line extension), the tower leans slightly to the north-west, by roughly 220 millimetres (8.66 in) at the clock face, giving an inclination of approximately 1/250. Due to thermal effects it oscillates annually by a few millimetres east and west.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Ben

Map : (click + zoom in , click - zoom out , click arrow : up , down , left , right)

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