Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey was founded in 966 when Duke Richard I installed Benedictine monks, though a sanctuary dates to 708 to 710. Richard II chose William of Volpiano, who had built Fécamp Abbey, to design the Romanesque church, with crypts built from 1031 to 1047 and the nave begun in 1060. Abbot Robert of Torigni reinforced the buildings and built the main facade. The Merveille, the monks' quarters, went up in a Norman medieval style, the east side from 1211 to 1218 and the whole completed in 1228.
The choir was rebuilt in Flamboyant Gothic from 1446 to 1523, with a break from 1450 to 1499. The west front is neoclassical, from 1780, and the neo-Gothic spire of 1896 rises about 558 feet (170 m) above sea level. Builders used Caen stone, English limestone and later Lucerne puddingstone.
Monks of the Monastic Fraternities of Jerusalem have lived there since 2001, and UNESCO listed it in 1979.
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