The origins of the Mont-Saint-Michel and the natural phenomena that embrace its bay still hold many a mystery that researchers from all fields, and in particular from Lower Normandy, are endeavouring to penetrate. Amidst the vast programme to rehabilitate the Mont’s maritime character, involving fifty or so regional businesses, their work also contributes to preserving and positively promoting this jewel in Normandy’s… and the world’s heritage!

Interview : François-Xavier de Beaulaincourt - Syndicat Mixte Baie du Mont-Saint-Michel | Carpenters serving our heritage | 3D - a new dimension for manuscripts | The sociologists’ view of the Mont | take note

Interview : François-Xavier de Beaulaincourt - Syndicat Mixte Baie du Mont-Saint-Michel (Mont-Saint-Michel Bay Mixed Syndicate)
“Replacing the Mont in its natural and historic setting”
Launched in 2005 after over 10 years of preliminary study, the programme to re-establish the Mont-Saint-Michel’s maritime character is one of the most original and remarkable site restoration campaigns in Europe. Jointly funded by the French State, the Lower Normandy and Brittany Regional Councils, the Manche and Ille-et-Vilaine Departmental Councils, the European Union, the Seine-Normandie and Loire-Bretagne water boards, this 164 million Euro project aims at restoring, around the Mont, a maritime landscape regularly bathed by the tides by using the force of both tidal waters and the River Couesnon. It will also improve the welcome extended to some 3 million visitors each year. The Syndicat Mixte Baie du Mont-Saint-Michel is the contracting authority.
So how is the programme progressing?
- François-Xavier de Beaulaincourt, general manager of services: Since its construction, launched in 2006, the dam – the project’s most symbolic architectural structure since it satisfies all of its aims (hydraulics, tourism and heritage) – has begun its operating cycle. Its efficiency will only be truly measured once all of the hydraulic developments are in place and the current road-sea wall destroyed, i.e. in 2014. In the meantime, we will be cleaning out the Couesnon to evacuate 600,000m3 of sediment and to create a reservoir upstream of the dam (700,000m3). Downstream, the creation of two semi-channels will facilitate the deviation of the Couesnon, hence increasing the river’s capacity to “clean” the area around the Mont with each tide. A new construction offering access to the Mont will be built in 2010. It will comprise a footbridge reserved for pedestrians and a shuttle service, together with a platform at the foot of the ramparts. Finally, a parking zone will be created 2.5km upstream. The new site should be ready for the 2015 tourist season. The Mont will then have recovered its natural and historic setting, made only of sand, water and pedestrians.
To what extent does the Syndicate rely on researchers’ work?
- The launch of the programme, which in reality began as early as 2005 with the creation of a habitat for a protected frog species, required ten years of prior study and research in a wide variety of fields. A scientific committee had been created with this in mind. We have since created a new committee, in 2007, in charge of monitoring progress and of putting forward opinions. Researchers are extremely useful on a permanent basis. We are obliged to obtain results. It is absolutely essential that we verify, step by step, what we do compared to what we know.
What positive impact has the programme had on local businesses?
- Although, given their scope and the required resources, a number of tenders were awarded to national companies, many of the latter subcontract locally. Currently, fifty or so Lower-Normandy-based companies (1) are involved in the operation. (1) Including CM Paimbœuf in Colombelles, Normandy Tube in Giberville, Métallisation du Val de l’Orne in Blainville-sur-Orne, STEN in Pont-l’Evêque, Aubert-Labansat in Coutances…
François-Xavier de Beaulaincourt
Syndicat Mixte Baie du Mont-Saint-Michel
Tél. : 02 33 89 01 01
Site : www.projetmontsaintmichel.fr

Carpenters serving our heritage
Established in the town of Coutances, in Manche, the Ateliers Aubert-Labansat—with 100 years of experience in carpentry and joinery – has been working on the Mont-Saint-Michel for twenty years now: on the abbey spire, the Saut-Gautier, the Drawbridge, the façade of the Hôtel Saint-Pierre… Mid May, the workshops will be completing a different contract, this time, not on, but around the Mont: the wooden decking (flooring framework) of the maritime balcony, on the dam, which will soon offer visitors the opportunity to discover the Mont and its bay from the structure, located two kilometres from the ramparts. The balcony, which required a total of 18 months preparation, is made of oak, the company’s speciality. A total of 110m3 of wood were transformed into planks within the workshop. The decking will be fitted onto a metal structure produced by Baudin-Chateauneuf, the company behind the tender awarded to the Ateliers Aubert-Labansat three years ago. “From our point of view, the challenge was not really a technical one,” explains Alain Cordier. “The genuine “mission: impossible” was to coordinate our two design offices and to find 300m3 of wood offering the requisite quality.” Wood that was finally supplied by the Hubert Bois sawmill in Mayenne. “And of course,” he concludes, “it’s always a pleasure to work on a site like the Mont.”
Ateliers Aubert-Labansat
Alain Cordier / Directeur technique
Tél. : 02 33 76 60 60 - Mél :
Site : www.aubert-labansat.com

3D - a new dimension for manuscripts
Opened in 2006, the Avranches Scriptorial holds 205 manuscripts from the Mont-Saint-Michel, dating from the 9th and the 15thcenturies. And to ensure their preservation, whilst enabling the best possible access to the public, a massive digitisation campaign is currently underway. The ERSAM, a Caen University technological research team focusing on “Ancient sources, Multimedia and diverse audiences” and specialised in the promotion and development of ancient sources of information via virtual reconstitution (Plan de Rome – scale model of ancient Rome), is finalising an experimental project on the collection of scientific and technical treaties kept under the bibliographical reference Ms 235 (work undertaken by Catherine Jacquemard). The Abbey monks had compiled descriptions of antique astronomical instruments. In order to understand how these instruments worked, the ERSAM has produced sketches and models. They are on display in the museum and their 3D models are shortly due to join the multimedia terminals. Photo caption Researchers from Caen University have produced sketches and models of the astronomical instruments described in one of the manuscripts preserved at the Mont-Saint-Michel scriptorial.
Philippe Fleury
Director of the ERSAM
Tél. : 02 31 56 62 38
Site : www.unicaen.fr/services/cireve/ersam

The sociologists’ view of the Mont
Stéphane Valognes, a lecturer at Caen University (Research Centre on areas and societies – joint UCBN-CNRS research unit) has published an article in the journal Cahiers Espaces (n°96, January 2008), relating the results of a research contract on the Mont and its public. Although the site welcomes over three million visitors each year, “only” one million actually enter the abbey. These “non-religious” tourists generally take the Grande Rue, bordered with restaurants and souvenir shops. His article deals with the cohabitation of these, quite different, visitors (pilgrims and tourists) and vocations (trade and monastic life), questioning on the various representations of a site where history, myth, architectural splendour and faith intermingle.
” Le Mont-Saint-Michel, un site à forte dimension touristique et spirituelle “
Sites : www.revue-espaces.com/librairie/6343/sites-religieux-tourisme.html
www.unicaen.fr/recherche/mrsh/creso

Take note
RCM, in other words… RCM stands for “Rétablissement du Caractère Maritime”, i.e. the campaign to restore the Mont-Saint-Michel’s maritime character, launched in 2005, and aimed at recreating, around the Mont, a maritime landscape regularly bathed by the tides by using the force of both tidal waters and the River Couesnon.
Figure
The Mont-Saint-Michel, which is listed in UNESCO’s World Heritage, welcomes three million visitors each year.
Sentence “The Mont-Saint-Michel is a subject offering a vast array of both fundamental and applied research opportunities,” Franck Levoy, Caen University professor.
Map

Coutances : The Ateliers Aubert-Labansat and the M2C laboratory.
Caen : The University Office of Norman Studies and the ERSAM.
Avranches : The Scriptorial.

France’s second most visited monument after the Eiffel Tower, the Mont-Saint-Michel’s great beauty is as fascinating as are the many mysteries that remain with regard to its origin and the phenomena that affect the surrounding bay. The Mont attracts researchers from across the globe, and from all disciplines. François-Xavier de Beaulaincourt, director of the Syndicat Mixte Baie du Mont-Saint-Michel, the contracting authority for the programme to rehabilitate the Mont’s maritime character, is often approached by research teams hailing from a variety of backgrounds. “We have decided to limit our choices to suit the programme’s operational needs,” he explains. Among the Mixed Syndicate’s scientific partnerships, the Caen-based laboratory on Continental and Coastal Morphodynamics (M2C – CNRS, UCBN Laboratory) is currently observing the deviation of the River Couesnon channels around the Mont and is working on the collection of topographical data thanks to the purchase of a unique tool in France; LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), an airborne lateral laser scanner. In the field of human sciences, the publication last month of two volumes of the Founding texts of the Mont-Saint-Michel, by the Presses Universitaires de Caen, is the result of several years of work by researchers from Caen University’s OEUN (University Office of Norman Studies). Other research work on manuscripts is regularly conducted by researchers from the University. This exceptional heritage, listed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List, is celebrating its 13th centenary this year.

Sediments under strict surveillance

The Caen-based Continental and Coastal Morphodynamics laboratory, still referred to as M2C (CNRS, UCBN, University of Rouen laboratory) has been working on the Mont-Saint-Michel virtually since its creation in the mid 1960s.

Historically, several theses developed at M2C have focused on the Bay, more specifically on sediment deposits over several hundred thousand years,” explains Franck Levoy, professor at Caen University and coordinator of the “Coastal system dynamics” team. “The Mont-Saint-Michel is a subject offering a vast array of both fundamental and applied research opportunities.” Within the framework of the rehabilitation of the Mont’s maritime character, the laboratory is working in partnership with the Mixed Syndicate that is acting as the contracting authority. An initial thesis on the study of hydrosedimentary processes and morphodynamic changes around the Mont-Saint-Michel was completed late 2008. “Romain Desguée’s work successfully demonstrated that the proliferation of herbus across the bay is not linear in time, but is more important after years of strong and frequent winds that generate higher waves,” explains Franck Levoy. “We had never as yet quantitatively considered the role of the wind and the waves, only that of the tide, on the increased quantities of sediment that encourage the development of herbus.” This discovery will enable periods of massive proliferation of herbus to be anticipated and water release from the dam to be appropriately adapted.

An airborne laser scanner

A second thesis us currently underway since the beginning of the year. Lucile Gluard is working on the observation of deviations of the River Couesnon channels around the Mont and on the factors that produce such deviation. “The more the channel moves, the more sediment it evacuates,” explains Franck Levoy. “We still have very much to learn in the field. For example, we know little of the role of spring tides, storms and waves on the position of these channels. We consequently plan to take measurements on site in an attempt to correlate channel displacement with tidal amplitude, wind force and direction, and wave height around the Mont-Saint-Michel.” The M2C laboratory is currently working on the instruments required to take such measurements. “Since the channel is difficult to access, we will be implementing new methods: we already have a camera that observes the south of the Mont as far as the dam. We are hoping to install a second camera to observe the north and west, both of them zones where the impact of dam release is likely to increase over the coming years. Concurrently, we can now conduct topographic surveys with the LIDAR, an airborne laser scanner enabling us to observe changes due to sedimentation and erosion.” A flight over the bay will be organised twice yearly. The most recent dates from February 2009 and the next one is due in September. “We will consequently be able to measure sediment volume over time, hence observing the impact of dam release, and adapting it if necessary.” A further project is also underway. “We would like to take monthly measurements at a distance of less than a kilometre around the Mont, the LIDAR only being designed for larger zones,” explains Franck Levoy. “In July 2008, we tested a land laser from the top of the spire, scanning the relief around the Mont.” A call for tenders was recently launched by the Syndicat Mixte Baie du Mont-Saint-Michel in view of this project. All of these measurements should enable us to adjust and improve the efficiency of planned developments, hence satisfying our targeted aim: to re-establish the Mont’s maritime character. Caption Franck Levoy and Lucile Gluard.

Franck Levoy
Caen University, Continental and Coastal Morphodynamics Laboratory (M2C - CNRS, UCBN, University of Rouen laboratory)
Tél. : 02 31 56 57 44
Site : GEOS

A mound of history and legends

In the Middle Ages, the Mont-Saint-Michel was a prestigious place of erudition, to in turn become a source of inspiration and study for researchers and, today, to welcome new technologies.

Caption Le Songe d’Aubert (Aubert’s dream) – Full-page drawing. Cartulary of the Mont-Saint-Michel. Mid 12th century. Ms. 210, fol. 4v. In the year 709, Aubert, bishop of Avranches, had a sanctuary built on the Mont Tombe devoted to Saint Michael, who had appeared to him in a dream. Such is the description of its origin in the Revelatio, the first of the Mont’s founding texts, drafted in the 9th century by a canon. Historians, linguists and Latinists alike draw from ancient texts an abiding source of history and legends. The publication last month of two volumes of the Founding texts of the Mont-Saint-Michel, by the Presses Universitaires de Caen, is the result of several years of work by researchers from Caen University’s OEUN (University Office of Norman Studies) (1). In partnership with the Universities of Paris X Nanterre, Bari and Turin, and with support from the Centre des Monuments Nationaux (National Monuments Centre) and the Association des Chemins du Mont-Saint-Michel, the OUEN (University Office of Norman Studies) has organised, from 2000 to 2008, four conferences on the cult of Saint Michael in Europe. The most recent was held in Cerisy-la-Salle, focusing on the representation of the Archangel in literature and the arts. Pierre Bouet and Olivier Desbordes, both Latinists from Caen University, are behind the first volume of these founding texts. They have reunited, translated and commented on five Latin texts drafted on the Mont between the 9th and the 12th century and that had never before been the subject of any scientific publication: a total of 150 pages of translated text and 250 pages of commentary. The second volume, prepared under the auspices of Catherine Bougy, lecturer in ancient French and dialectology and director of the OUEN, presents “Le Roman du Mont-Saint-Michel” (the book of the Mont-Saint-Michel), a 12th century work by one of the Mont’s monks, composed specifically for non-Latin readers. The author transposes and adapts old texts, offering a number of digressions, to finally create an original and poetic work, in keeping with period language and culture. Catherine Bougy has translated the 4,106 verses from the two manuscripts and has compiled a 30,000 word glossary.

Electronic publishing

The Caen university press, whose aim it is to “publish sources and to render them accessible to the general public,” have embarked on a huge task involving the electronic publishing of these two volumes. Each volume is published with a CD-Rom and edited on line in Normannia(2) the Centre régional des lettres’ (Regional Literary Centre) digital library. Electronic publishing offers functionalities that traditional publishing cannot: search using key words, interactive links to digitised pages, simultaneous display of the original text, its translation and critical notes, etc. The work conducted on these hitherto practically inaccessible texts brings new research opportunities, both historical and linguistic. An OUEN researcher is also preparing a descriptive catalogue of the Mont’s manuscripts, currently kept in the Avranches Scriptorial and most of which remain to be studied. Having already contributed upon the opening of the museum, researchers from Caen University are continuing to offer regular support, via research on manuscripts, student hosting and participation within the Scriptorial’s scientific committee. The university is consequently actively involved in preserving this exceptional heritage.

(1) Resource and pluridisciplinary research centre on Medieval Normandy, contributing via international conferences and scientific publications. www.unicaen.fr/universite/recherche/equipes-laboratoires/ds6/ouen.php

(2) Digital library on Normandy’s heritage, history and culture: www.normannia.info

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