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Origin and history

The Saint-Pierre du Mont-Saint-Michel church, located in the Manche department in Normandy, is a Catholic building whose present state dates back to the fourteenth, fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. It occupies a central position in the village, backed by the rock and bordered by the communal cemetery. Since 1886, it has combined the functions of parish church and pilgrimage sanctuary after the transfer of the cult of Saint Michael from the abbey, a decision taken by the bishop of Coutances upon the expiration of the lease of the abbey.

According to tradition, the church was founded in the eighth century by Saint Aubert, bishop of Avranches, as a burial place. From this Romanesque period there remain pillars to impostes at the entrance of the choir. The building was thoroughly renovated over the centuries: the central vessel was enlarged by a south side of the building before 1390 (visible in the very Rich Hours of the Duke of Berry), the apsidioles were rebuilt in flat-side chapels and the building of a bell tower in the 15th century, followed by the addition of an apse with cut sides in the late 16th or early 17th century.

In the 19th century, the church became a major place for the revival of the Michaelian pilgrimage. In 1877, the statue of Saint Michael Archangel, transferred from the abbey, was solemnly crowned in the presence of 25,000 faithful, marking the culmination of this renewal. The ground floor of the tower-clocher, once passed to the cemetery, was transformed into a chapel dedicated to Saint Michael at the end of the 19th century. The building, classified as a historical monument in 1909, retains remarkable furniture: 14th century baptismal fonts, 17th century retable, and statues classified as the Virgin with Child or Saint Catherine of Alexandria.

The architecture of the church reflects its successive transformations: a nave with a central ship and a southern collateral, a choir with a single span ending with a polygonal apse, and lateral chapels dedicated to Saint John and the Virgin. The walled frames, rebuilt in the 20th century by the Historical Monuments, support slate covers of Angers. The adjoining cemetery, classified in 1934, houses a 16th-century cross and medieval funerary slabs, testimonies of village history.

The liturgical furniture and the statuary illustrate the artistic richness of the place. Among the major pieces are the altar and statue of Saint Michael in silver, works by the Parisian goldsmith Jean-Alexandre Chertier (1873), as well as a 15th century carved group representing Saint Anne teaching to the Virgin. The 15th century wall paintings, partially preserved, and stained glass windows complete this heritage complex, while the carillon of the tower-clocher, installed in 1964, recalls the local devotion to archangel.

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