"Quatre périscopes pour voir le Mont Saint-Michel..."

[breeze]

Here is the article about temporary "periscopes" to be set up in four high-up locations around the bay so that people can get a 360 degree view of Mont Saint-Michel. Can anyone explain this setup to me? Does "periscope" have a different meaning in French than in English?

actu.fr/societe/quatre-periscopes-voir-mont-saint-michel-patrimoine-unesco-360_15936805.html

[bjd]

No, it doesn't have a different meaning. The article says that making Mont St Michel into an island again has cut it off from the surrounding community, so they are going to set up 4 large sets of mirrors in the locations shown on the map to act as periscopes, ie, give a wide angle view of the bay and site. From April to June.

Various themes are planned to interest people in the area.

[breeze]

Thanks, bjd. From each of the four sites you'll be able to get a 360-deg view of MSM from the mirrors at that site?

[bjd]

That's what the headline says. Then, each location will have a special additional interest. For example, the site at Cancale will also be dedicated to professions dealing with the sea, like oyster-raising; Avranches will have information about the extension of a botanical garden on the site of a former gas factory,...

[kerouac2]

I think the word periscope is used to intrigue more than anything else. If they had just called it a "mirror system" it would have sounded boring.

Here is the official dictionary definition: a tubular optical instrument containing lenses and mirrors by which an observer obtains an otherwise obstructed field of view

[breeze]

We read and learn. Googling, I found out that there's an older periscope actually on Mont Saint-Michel, restored in 2016.

professionlavie.blogspot.com/2016/07/profession-periscope-du-mont-saint.html

It's still not what I think of as a periscope but I understand how this one works. I think.