The basilica of Saint-Denis was the burial place of St Denis (Dionysius), the patron saint of France, and the French kings. Here the royal insignia and banner, the oriflamme, were preserved and the royal chronicles were kept. Several abbots of Saint-Denis acted as Regents of the kingdom. For 12 centuries almost all the French kings, from Dagobert I (d. 639) to Louis XVIII (d. 1824), were laid to rest in this splendid necropolis.
The building of the choir and west front of Saint-Denis marked the beginning of Gothic architecture, providing a model which was followed by Chartres, Senlis and Meaux cathedrals. The Gothic style of central and northern Europe, given expression in architecture, painting and sculpture, was born in France, in the province of Ile-de-France with Paris as its center. Coming between Romanesque and Renaissance styles, it was predominant from the 12th to the early 16th centuries.
The term Gothic stems from the Italian art historian Giorgio Vasari (1511-74), who, considering the style from the point of view of the Renaissance, regarded it as a barbaric (i.e. northern) form of art and associated it with the Goths. In the 19th century the Romantic movement's enthusiasm for history led at first to an uncritical and extravagant overvaluation, later followed by a more rational and balanced assessment of Gothic, now regarded as one of the high points of medieval architecture.
Saint-Denis has been an important place of pilgrimage since early Christian times. The legend of St Dionysius - missionary, first bishop of Paris and martyr - has it that after his beheading on the Butte Montmartre the saint carried his head in his hands to the place where he desired to be buried. A church was built on the spot in the fifth century, followed in the seventh C by the foundation of an abbey. In the reign of Abbot Suger (1081-1151), in the 12th century, work began on the conversion of the church from Romanesque to Gothic. The Early Gothic west front and narthex were built between 1137 and 1140, the choir in 1140-43. A hundred years later the surviving central part of the earlier church was pulled down and replaced by a High Gothic high choir, transepts and nave under the direction of Pierre de Montreuil (d. 1264), Louis IX's architect. Over the centuries the church fell into disrepair. In the early 19th C restoration work began, and was later carried on by Viollet-le-Duc between 1858 and 1879 on the basis of historical records, giving the church the form in which we see it today.
The Early Gothic west front of Saint-Denis displays for the first time the characteristic features of Gothic architecture - clarity of structure (with some 19th century additions in a reproduction of the original style), the symmetrical disposition of the towers (the north tower was demolished in 1837 after being struck by lightning), the transition from round to pointed arches, the round window (later developed into the large rose windows of High Gothic) and the three doorways (symbolic of the Trinity).
Of the sculpture on the doorways only the figures of the wise and foolish virgins on the central doorway, the Months (right) and the signs of the zodiac (left) are original.
In the tympanum of the central doorway is the Last Judgment (restored); to the right is the Communion of St Dionysius (reproduction), to the left his martyrdom with his companions Rusticus and Eleutherius (also a reproduction).
With its crenellations and its massive buttresses Saint-Denis has still something of the fortress- like character of the Romanesque churches, seen as "God's strongholds".
The interior of Saint-Denis (108m/355ft long, almost 30m/100ft high) is of impressive effect, with its soaring columns and 37 windows, each 10m/33ft high. It is divided into the narthex, the nave, flanked by aisles, the high choir, the crossing, the transepts and the choir.
Here we find the final and perhaps the most important feature of Gothic, fully developed in High Gothic - the "architecture of light", by which is meant light not only in its literal sense but as an element in the structure and spatial articulation of the building. It is only through the incidence of light - determined in qualitative terms by the angle of incidence and in quantitative terms by the amount of light - that the height and depth of the interior space take on life and can be appreciated. The wall, no longer a load-bearing element in the structure, is dissolved into great expanses of window, and the load-bearing function is performed by the ribbed vaulting, which transmits the load to the pillars and columns, with the external buttresses providing stability. The use of pointed arches makes for higher vaulting and greater spatial freedom.
Apart from its combination of Early Gothic (narthex and choir) and High Gothic, the church also has the special feature that the triforium, the wall-passage between the arcading and the high windows in the aisles and transepts which is usually windowless, here also has windows.
With only a few exceptions, all the kings and queens of France and their children, together with some particularly faithful servants of the Crown, are buried in Saint-Denis. Their tombs were plundered during the Revolution, but their remains were returned in 1817.
There are two separate parts in the crypt, one for the house of Bourbon to which Louis XVI belonged, the other for the remains of some 800 members of the Merovingian, Capetian, Orléans and Valois dynasties. Some of the tombs are masterpieces of French Renaissance art, in particular the sumptuous marble and bronze mausoleum of Louis XII (d. 1515) and his wife Anne de Bretagne (d. 1514), constructed between 1517 and 1531 (in north transept); the tomb of Henri II (d. 1559) and his wife Catherine de Médicis (d. 1589), by Germain Pilon, completed in 1573 (also in north transept); the 13th century sarcophagus of Dagobert I, with statues of his queen, Nanthile, and his son Clovis II (to right of high altar); and the tomb of François I (d. 1547), by Philibert Delorme (in south transept).
Address: Basilique de Saint-Denis, 2 rue de Strasbourg, F-93200 St Denis, France
Hours:
April 1 to September 30: 10am-7pm; Sun:12pm-7pm
October 1 to March 31: 10am-5pm; Sun:12pm-5pm
Always closed on: New Year's Day (January 1), May Day / Labor Day (May 1), All Saints' Day - Christian (November 1), Remembrance Day / 1918 Armistice Day (November 11), Christmas - Christian (December 25)
Tips: Guide tour reserves 21 days to one month in advance.
Documentation available in foreign languages.
Guides: Guided tour included with admission.
Transit: Metro: Saint-Denis-Basilique; Bus: 156 (from Porte de la Chapelle).
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