The marvellous character of the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel can be seen wherever the eye is drawn to. The sands, the grasses, the sea, the sky, all share in the same horizon. The architecture of the abbey testifies to the mastery and craftsmanship of several generations of builders. In 966, the Benedictine monks built the first church, ‘Notre-Dame-Sous-Terre’. However, it soon became too small. Between 1060 and 1080, the abbey church was built on a Latin cross plan. This masterpiece of Romanesque art is built on an 80-metre long artificial platform.