19 May 2017 / leggypeggy

Saint-Denis full of French royalty

basilica, cathedral, church, crypts, Paris, royalty, Saint-Denis, stained glass, tombs, travel

View of the nave and to the pipe organ (see scaffolding on left)

The Basilica (Cathedral) of Saint-Denis in Paris has a wonderfully creepy story of how it came to be where it is. In the 3rd century, Saint Denis, a patron saint of France and the first bishop of Paris, and two of his followers were beheaded on the hill at Montmartre. The legend goes that Saint Denis, carrying his own head, then walked to the site of the current church and indicated that’s where he wanted to be buried.

A special church (a martyrium) was built on the site of his grave and became a popular pilgrimage destination in the 5th and 6th centuries.

Towards the altar (also called choir)

Now I won’t go into all the building, rebuilding, renovations and expansions that have taken place over the centuries, but I will say that the basilica (and its accompanying abbey) became a popular burial place for the royalty of France. In fact, it’s often referred to as the ‘royal necropolis of France’.

In fact, all but three of the French monarchs from the 10th century to 1789 have their remains at Saint Denis. But after the French Revolution, the ancient monarchs were removed from the church. Their bodies were dumped into mass graves and covered with lime to destroy them.

The north transept rose features the Tree of Jesse

The clerestory windows

Glazed triforium

Stained glass

In 1817, the ruling Bourbons ordered that the mass graves be opened and the royal remains be returned to Saint-Denis. By then, only a few parts of three bodies remained intact. The remaining bones from 158 bodies were collected into an ossuary in the crypt of Saint Denis. Today a marble plates bears their names.

Poor John and I spent more than an hour wandering around the church, admiring the sculptures and stained glass windows. A commenter below (Buying Seafood) reminded me that this church is considered to be the birthplace of gothic architecture, initiated by the Abbot Suger.

Some renovations are being carried out in the nave at the moment, so there wasn’t a completely clear view of everything.

After ‘doing’ the main part of the cathedral, which is open to the public at no charge, we even paid the 9 euros (each) admission to access the inner parts of the cathedral and the crypts below.

Reflections of stained glass windows

Charles V, Jeanne de Bourbon, Saint-Denis

Charles V and Jeanne de Bourbon

Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, Saint-Denis

Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette praying

There are some amazing statues throughout the cathedral. A touching one is of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette praying. Another is the tomb of Charles V and wife, Jeanne de Bourbon. Still another tomb (for Louis XII and Anne de Bretagne) was capturing the reflection from stained glass windows. I got a couple of pics of it, and within minutes the sun had moved on and the colour was gone.

Students listen to stories about Saint-Denis and the cathedral

We got a kick out of the teacher/guide with a group of school children. We could only watch him from the back, but he was full of animation and the kids were spellbound. One was even videoing his ‘performance’.

By the way, keep your wits about you if you decide to visit the cathedral. Libby and Daniel warned us that Saint Denis is in a rough neighbourhood—not as rough as it used to be, but still requiring caution.

I carried my camera in a small backpack, rather than in the normal camera case. And I didn’t bring the camera out when we wandered through the market that is almost directly opposite Saint Denis. That said, we never felt threatened or unsafe.