In 1872, the architect Edouard Corroyer was commissioned by the Fine Arts Department to restore the abbey, which would be listed as a ‘Monument Historique’ only two years later. Firstly, he renovated the Romanesque parts, the cloister and the refectory, before reinforcing the transept of the abbey church, which was in danger of collapsing. From 1888 onwards, another architect, Victor Petitgrand, completely rebuilt the transept crossing and topped it with a neo-Romanesque tower, itself surmounted by a neo-Gothic spire bearing the statue of the archangel Saint Michael sculpted by Emmanuel Frémiet.