Since 708, this small rock of barely 4km2 has defied history. It all began with a small chapel dedicated to Saint Michael and the installation of Benedictine monks. The fame of the abbey, which became a place of pilgrimage and the strategic interest of the Mont did the rest. The Romanesque and Gothic arts were expressed in all their power on the granite rock, resulting in this formidable citadel where the religious and the military are intimately mixed.