Basilique de St-Denis, the most important church in France, the birthplace of the Gothic style. The present basilica was built from a single tower by master builders from 1136 onwards, working on behalf of Abbot Sauger, a friend and adviser to the monarchs. At the church’s dedication ceremony, the western façade and the very high choir flooded with light made such an impression on the bishops present that over the next half century France was filled with great Gothic cathedrals modelled on Saint Denis, including Chartres Cathedral. In June the basilica hosts the Saint-Denis Festival with concerts of classical and choral music.
Inside the church, the main attraction is the necropolis. In Saint Denis, in fact, not only French kings were crowned but also sovereigns were buried for 1200 years, from Adgobert I, who reigned from 629 to 639 to Louis XVIII, who reigned from 1814 to 1824. The necropolis is very suggestive also thanks to the splendid double ambulatory with the revolutionary cross vault illuminated by the stained glass windows of the basilica. Among the most peculiar tombs are those of Charles V, the first king to have a funerary effigy carved while he was still alive, who rests next to his wife Joan of Bourbon, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette kneeling in prayer, Clovis I, the king who drove the Romans out of Gaul, Henry II and Catherine de’ Medici buried in a small classical temple surmounted by statues of the genuflected couple and Louis XII and Anne of Brittany.
