Perched on a rocky islet in the midst of vast sand­banks exposed to pow­er­ful tides between Nor­mandy and Brit­tany stand the ‘Won­der of the West‘, a Goth­ic-style Bene­dic­tine abbey ded­i­cat­ed to the archangel St Michael, and the vil­lage that grew up in the shad­ow of its great walls. Built between the 11th and 16th cen­turies, the abbey is a tech­ni­cal and artis­tic tour de force, hav­ing had to adapt to the prob­lems posed by this unique nat­ur­al site.