Brussels, 03/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - During a ceremony to celebrate re-establishing Mont-Saint-Michel's maritime character, the Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Cretu, pointed out in a statement that out of the €185 million invested in the project, more than €20 million (€21.15 million) came from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) between 2000 and 2013.
The Commissioner stated that “We are co-finacing cultural and heritage projects at a European level because it is not simply about restoring the splendour of a monument but of participating in the dynamism of a whole region by offering new economic opportunities”.
This “return to the sea” is the result of a huge project launched in 2006, following a lengthy study period that began in 1996. A new dam was subsequently built and completed in 2009 in view of helping refill the Couesnon at high tide, the coastal river adjacent to Mont-Saint-Michel. A water reservoir upstream of the dam, which can store up to 1.4 million cubic meters of water on a tidal cycle, was also created. Hydraulic modifications behind Mont-Saint-Michel were finished in 2011. Finally, the route of the dike, which helped to significantly speed up the re-sanding process, was replaced in July 2014 by a pedestrian footbridge. Since 2012, vehicles can no longer park at the foot of the Mount but can do so in the car park on the hinterland.
The Benedictine abbey was included on the Cultural Heritage of Humanity list in 1979 but had been threatened by the sanding up and approach of the bay, which was gradually reattaching it to the mainland. This prompted the French state, in collaboration with the local authorities, to take action and launch the initiative to establish the maritime character of the abbey in 1995. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)