Saint-Denis, Île-de-France, France
Basilica of Saint-Denis
The burial place of French kings and the birthplace of Gothic architecture, just north of Paris.
It sits in a working-class suburb, not a postcard town, and you reach it by metro. That somehow makes it better. Abbot Suger rebuilt this church in the 1140s and in doing so invented Gothic architecture — pointed arches, ribbed vaults, walls of glass where stone walls used to be. He wanted light, and he got it. The ambulatory behind the altar is the oldest Gothic space on earth, and standing in it is like standing at the headwaters of a river that gave Europe its cathedrals. But the other reason to come is the tombs. Nearly every French king and queen from the tenth to the eighteenth century is buried here, and their effigies line the transepts — stone faces staring at the ceiling, hands folded, dogs at their feet. The Revolution emptied the tombs and tossed the bones into pits. They were later recovered and reinterred. The crypt holds what remains. It is quiet down there, the kind of quiet that comes from having survived the worst anyone could do to a place.
Diocese: Diocese of Saint-Denis
Style: Early Gothic (the first Gothic structure)
What to See
Start in the ambulatory — Suger's choir — and look at how the walls dissolve into glass. This was revolutionary in 1144 and it still feels open and airy. The royal tombs are arranged chronologically; the Renaissance-era ones are the most elaborate, with full architectural canopies and lifelike portraiture. Look for the double tomb of Henri II and Catherine de Medici, which shows them both in death below and praying above. The crypt holds the oldest remains and the ossuary where revolutionary-era bones were gathered. Some of Suger's original twelfth-century glass survives in the ambulatory windows.
Pilgrim Notes
Take Metro Line 13 to Basilique de Saint-Denis — it's about thirty minutes from central Paris. The basilica charges a small fee for the tombs and crypt but the nave is free. Mass is celebrated on Sundays and some weekdays. The neighborhood is diverse and lively, very different from tourist Paris, and the market outside the basilica on Tuesday and Friday mornings is one of the best in the region. Allow at least ninety minutes for the full visit including the crypt.