1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/St Mihiel

ST MIHIEL, a town of north-eastern France, in the department of Meuse, on the right bank of the Meuse and the Canal de l'Est, 23 m. S. by E. of Verdun by rail. Pop. (1906) of the town, 5943 (not including a large garrison), of the commune, 9661. St Mihiel is famous for its Benedictine abbey of St Michael, founded in 709, to which it owes its name. The abbey buildings (occupied by the municipal offices) date from theend of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century, and the church from the 17th century. The latter contains a wooden carving of the Virgin by the sculptor Ligier Richier, born at St Mihiel in 1506. Other interesting buildings are the church of St Étienne, chiefly in the flamboyant Gothic style, which contains a magnificent Holy Sepulchre by Ligier Richier, and several houses dating from the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. On the road to Verdun are seven huge rocks, in one of which a sepulchre (18th century), containing a life-sized figure of Christ, has been hollowed. St Mihiel formerly possessed fortifications and two castles which were destroyed in 1635 by the royal troops in the course of a quarrel between Louis XIII. and Charles IV., duke of Lorraine. The town is the seat of a court of assizes, and has the tribunal of first instance belonging to the arrondissement of Commercy and a communal college.