Part of what makes reenacting an engaging hobby is you can visit sites you’re read about and get an appreciation of the magnificent architecture of the middle ages. Maybe you’ll be able to experience for yourself what a medieval pilgrim felt at a religious site. Today’s pilgrims have the marvel of modern day engineering that makes what was once an arduous, sometimes life threatening journey as easy as strolling through your neighborhood, but what has been sacrificed in the process?
In 708 AD the Archangel Michael appeared to Bishop Aubert and told the bishop to build a church on an island that is off the Normandy coast. Over the centuries the church became a religious complex and pilgrimage site. In 1879, a causeway was built making access easier to Mt. St. Michel, but has that made the site better? Especially now that the mount is slowing becoming attached to the mainland because the causeway changed the sea’s flow and has silted up the channel.
Environmental degradation aside what damage is done to the abbey that sits on top of the mount?
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Easier access means more people which means more wear and tear. In most cases wear and tear can be fixed with routine maintenance. What cannot be repaired is the soul of the place—that feeling you get when you know you have arrived at someplace special. There’s certainly has been a loss of mystique. At one time the mount was accessed by walking across the beach at low tide or by boat during high tide. This made one more aware of nature, the force of the sea, a sense that you were leaving one realm behind to venture into another—a concrete symbol of the separation of the physical from the spiritual.
As you walk through the medieval village at the foot of the mount, you’re being jostled by the crowd. While it can be argued that hustle and bustle is proper for the village, it’s hard to be awestruck when you’re jostled by people who won’t let you just stand for a moment to appreciate the marvel that rises before you.
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Decades of people walking through the site has definitely disturbed the serenity of the place. Even the holiness has gone. On a recent tour of the mount, the tour guide mentioned that the exposed rock inside the abbey was considered part of the shrine. Two women immediately climbed upon the rock to pose for a picture. Hardly an appropriate way to treat a scared space. The modern day activity makes me wonder if the archangel, who was so insistent on having the place built, has fled it in disgust.
