Download PDF file
French 
English 
Espanol 
Italian 
German 
Portuguese 
Russian 
Chinese 
Japanese 
podcasts
abo_rss
Come and visit the Basilica Cathedral of Saint Denis near Paris, the first monumental masterpiece of Gothic art. Discover the Royal necropolis and its collection of 70 sculpted recumbent statues - the only set of its kind in Europe - bathed in the multi-coloured light of the 12th and 19th-century stained glass windows.
Visiting the Basilica Cathedral of Saint Denis
• Innovative architecture. Above the portal is a great rose window, a wholly novel feature. The use of cross-ribbed vaulting made it possible for the first time to create tall window bays. The absence of dividing walls between the chapels in Abbot Suger's chevet (1140-1144) meant it was particularly suited to displaying the relics of saints, venerated by ever increasing numbers of pilgrims throughout the Middle Ages.
• A historical overview of funerary sculpture from Dagobert to Louis XVI. There are 13th-century recumbent statues sculpted with open eyes, and large compositions dating from the Renaissance, associating death with the hope of resurrection, such as the tombs of Louis XII and Anne de Bretagne, or of Henri II and Catherine de Medici.
Understanding the Basilica Cathedral of Saint Denis
• A royal abbey. Saint Denis was a major pilgrim destination in the Middle Ages, then the church of a powerful Benedictine abbey. From the 6th century on, it was the place of burial for Kings and Queens of France. The church became a Cathedral in 1966.
• The birth of Gothic art. Saint Denis was designed by Abbot Suger in the 12th century and completed in the 13th century, and was the first religious building to accord a central place to light, the symbol of divinity. Building was carried out by Pierre de Montreuil among others, who went on to supervise the building of Notre-Dame de Paris.
