Basilica of St Denis facts for kids

Front of Saint Denis Basilica (in July 2002)

The Basilica of Saint Denis is a basilica in Paris, France. It is famous for its architecture and as the burial place for many Kings of France. It is in the suburb of Saint Denis, which is in the north of Paris.

The Basilica is named after Saint Denis. Saint Denis is the patron saint of France. He was also the first Bishop of Paris.

The Basilica was a Romanesque building. In 1136 the Abbot Suger (1081 - 1155) began replacing the building, bit by bit, beginning with the west front and then with a new east end. The east end is said to be the first building in the Gothic style. It was not completed until the 13th century.

People who are buried in Saint Denis Basilica

Images for kids

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  Charles I of Naples (or Anjou)

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  Tomb of Charles Martel

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  Henry I in background, Robert II, John I d. 1316 and Jeanne d. 1349

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  At top are Effigies on the tomb of Henry II and Catherine de' Medici, carved by Germain Pilon

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  Tombs of Henry II of France and his wife Catherine de' Medici

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  Tomb of Leon V of Armenia

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  Tomb of Philip IV

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  (From left clockwise) Gisants Bertrand du Guesclin, Charles VI, Isabeau of Bavaria, Louis de Sancerre, Charles V, Jeanne de Bourbon

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  Dagobert I visiting the construction site of the Abbey of St. Denis (painted 1473)

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  Clovis II visiting Saint Denis (painted in 15th c.)

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  Walls of the crypt built by the Abbot Hilduin (9th century)

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  Capital of a column in the Carolingian crypt

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  Earliest sarcophogi in the crypt

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  Abbot Suger depicted in the Tree of Jesse window (19th c)

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  Louis VI of France visiting St. Denis (14th century illustration)

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  The Oriflamme (top left), or battle flag of French Kings, was kept at Saint Denis.

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  King Philip II of France receives the Oriflamme from the bishop before going to war (13th c., 1841 painting)

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  The glazed triforium (center level) and upper clerestory, where windows fill almost the entire wall, a prominent feature of Rayonnant Gothic.(present windows from 19th c.)

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  Rayonnant rose window in the north transept

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  The cathedral in 1655 by Claude Chastillon

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  Henry IV of France renounces Protestantism in 1593 at Saint-Denis by Nicolas Baullery

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  The looting of the church in 1793, by Friedrich Staffnick

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  The violation of the royal tombs in 1793 depicted by Hubert Robert

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  The left tower, completed, damaged and removed in the 1840s

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  The two-tower plan of Viollet-le-Duc, never built

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  west portals before cleaning (2011)

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  The west front

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  Tympanum and lintel of the central portal "Last Judgement (c. 1135, restored 1839)

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  The west front after its cleaning

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  The apse, or east end of the cathedral, in 1878

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  North transept (left) and north nave walls and buttresses (19th c.)

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  The Rayonnant south transept

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  South side of the nave, with buttresses and chapels

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  Sculpture of the Porte de Valois, or north portal

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  The south portal and sculpture

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  Detail of the south portal sculpture

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  Rayonnant Gothic choir of St Denis.

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  The nave and choir

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  The elevation of the nave, with glass-filled triforium and upper windows

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  The vaults in the transept

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  The ambulatory (1140–1144)

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  disambulatory

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  Disambulatory and chapels

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  The axial chapel of the Virgin (12th c.)

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  The archeological crypt (8th century) rebuilt by Suger (12th c.), now contains the simple black marble tombs of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette

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  Carolingian decoration from the early crypt

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  Tomb of Dagobert I, first King buried at St. Denis remade in the 13th century

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  Tomb of Louis XII and Anne de Bretagne (1515)

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  Tomb of Catherine de Medici and Henry II of France (1559)

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  Funeral urn of Francois I by sculptor Pierre Bontemps (1556)

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  The Sacristy, rebuilt in 1812

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  "Infance of Christ", (12th c, Axis chapel)

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  Detail from the 12th-century Life of Christ window, Axis chapel

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  Detail of "Infance of Christ", Suger at the Feet of Christ (12th c.)

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  "Kings and Queens of France" (19th c.)

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  "The visit of King Louis-Philippe to Saint-Denis in 1837"

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  Detail of the north portal sculpture; the martyrdom of Saint Denis, Eleuthere and Rustique (12th c.)

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  Piedroits, or column statues, of the north portal. (12th c.)

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  Tomb of Clovis I and his son, Childebert I

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  Tomb of King Dagobert (13th century)

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  Memorial to King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette, sculptures (1830) by Edme Gaulle and Pierre Petitot

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  Ementrude of Orleans, wife of Charles II of France

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  Bust of Charles V of France

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  Battle scene on the tomb of Francois I (16th c.)

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  The choir stalls (16th c.)

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  Detail of carving and marquetry of the choir stalls

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  Misericord on a choir stall

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  The organ of the cathedral (19th c.)

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  Detail of the organ decoration

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  The choir at sunset

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  The clerestory windows

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  Depiction of the Trinity over the main entrance

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  Fulrad, Abbot of Saint-Denis