French Coins 20 Francs 2000 Mont Saint-Michel
Obverse: The Mont Saint-Michel (Mount Saint Michael), a rocky tidal island in Normandy, reflects in its bay.
Lettering: RÉPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE.
Reverse: in coin centre face value: 20 F (FRANCS); below year of issue; along the top edge: LIBERTÉ ÉGALITÉ, along the bottom one: FRATERNITÉ (liberty, equality, fraternity); in the background banches of parallel stripes.
Lettering: LIBERTÉ EGALITÉ 20F 1993 FRATERNITÉ.
Engraver: Atelier de gravure.
Edge: five plain and five reeded sections or four plain and four reeded in part of 1992 issue.
Designer: Atelier de gravure (group of designers of the Paris Mint - rosette in the water at right flank of the mount in the obverse).
Mint: Paris Mint mark La Monnaie de Paris (The Paris Mint), Pessac (mint mark before year of issue in the reverse, after year of issue privy mark of mint's director Emile Rousseau - dolphin - in years 1992-1994, Pierre Rodier - bee - in years 1994-2000 or Gérard Buquoy - horseshoe - in 2001).
Face value: 20 Francs.
Composition: Tri-Metallic Aluminium-bronze center in Nickel inner ring and Aluminium-bronze outer ring.
Weight: 9 g.
Diameter: 27 mm.
Thickness: 2.23 mm.
Weight: 9 g.
Diameter: 27 mm.
Thickness: 2.23 mm.
Mont Saint-Michel
Le Mont-Saint-Michel (English: Saint Michael's Mount) is an island commune in Normandy, France. It is located approximately one kilometre (0.6 miles) off the country's northwestern coast, at the mouth of the Couesnon River near Avranches. 100 hectares (247 acres) in size, the island has a population of 44 (2009).
The island has held strategic fortifications since ancient times and since the 8th century AD has been the seat of the monastery from which it draws its name. The structural composition of the town exemplifies the feudal society that constructed it: on top, God, the abbey and monastery; below, the great halls; then stores and housing; and at the bottom, outside the walls, fishermen's and farmers' housing.
Its unique position of being an island only 600 metres from land made it readily accessible at low tide to the many pilgrims to its abbey. Equally, this position made it readily defensible as an incoming tide stranded, drove off, or drowned, would-be assailants. By capitalizing on this natural defence the Mont remained unconquered during the Hundred Years' War with a small garrison successfully defending it against a full attack by the English in 1433. The reverse benefits of its natural defence were not lost on Louis XI, who turned the Mont into a prison. Thereafter the abbey began to be used more regularly as a jail during the Ancien Régime.
One of France's most recognizable landmarks, Mont Saint-Michel and its bay are part of the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites and more than 3 million people visit it each year.