Attacked by spray, Mont-Saint-Michel under construction for three years

"Mont-Saint-Michel, throughout its history, has always been an incessant fight against the effects of the weather. There has always been infiltration. We will try again to limit it and then in 50 years, in 100 years , it will be necessary to start again because it is an eternal restarting to preserve and transmit this magnificent building to our future generations ", explains François Jeanneau, chief architect of the Historic buildings, questioned by AFP on the 46 meters high scaffolding.

The French abbey, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, does not lose any of its splendor when approached from the coast, most of the work taking place in the north, on the sea side, on scaffolding which will move along the time.

It is above all a question of "cleaning the facades very dirty by lichens, mosses, algae which attack the stone" and of "replacing blocks of stone which are in bad condition and could fall", specifies Mr. Jeanneau.

It was therefore "urgent to intervene", sums up the senior official, who dates the last restoration work to the second half of the 1862th century, between 1885 and XNUMX.

Their launch was almost as pharaonic as the building of the abbey on a rock which once again becomes an island during high tides must have been. It has already taken 600 round trips by helicopter between the coast and the Mount to transport, from the beginning of November to the end of December, the 90 tonnes of scaffolding.

"Gigantism"

These works "are exceptional for their gigantism. We are on a rock. On this rock an abbey was built and against this abbey, we have scaffolding the height of the Arc de Triomphe", underlines Thomas Velter, administrator of the monument. the most visited in France, outside the Paris region.

In total nearly 100 m³ of stones will be replaced and 8.500 m² facade cleaned.

For two weeks, the masons-stonemasons have discreetly started to restore the granite to its original sand color. But in the almost deserted streets of a Mont-Saint-Michel with closed storefronts due to the Covid-19, silence continues to dominate.

You have to take the elevator mounted in the scaffolding and climb to the near top of La Merveille to begin to hear the sound of the work.

"We use Algimousse, a product that is both curative and preventive. We leave to act normally for 12 hours and then we bring water with the brushes and we manage to strip. After we join", explains Philippe Besnard, site manager cleaning carried out by Degaine, a subsidiary of Vinci.

The most attacked stones are marked with a red spot before being changed. "It is during cleaning that we see if it is really sandy, if there is a lot of grain going away. And when you type if it sounds a little hollow", specifies Mr. Besnard while around ten workers are busy around the heights of the monument. 25 stones have already been removed, he said.

"It is not a very hard granite. It is not a granite of the depths, it is a surface granite, of decomposition, which for many came from the Chausey Islands which are not far away", specifies François Jeanneau.

In addition to cleaning the stones, structural work is also planned. Slates from one of the last French slate quarries, in Travassac, will be transported from Corrèze. And some stained-glass windows will also be restored.

Closed since October due to Covid-19, the abbey will be open to the public during the works, as soon as the health measures linked to the epidemic allow it.