St. Denis: The Amazing Story of the First Gothic Church

Without St. Denis, there would be no Notre Dame de Paris as we knew it (and hope to see it again). Though not as well known, the Basilica of St. Denis is one of the most remarkable churches in Christendom. 

St. Denis, just north of Paris, initiated the Gothic revolution. Abbot Suger’s innovative renovation of St. Denis in the 1100s, laid the foundation for the great Gothic cathedrals of France: not only in Paris, but in Chartres, Reims, and so many other cities.  Beyond that, this great church literally contains the history of France, as the burial sites of one of her first saints as well as most of her kings and queens. 

The story of the basilica begins with the first bishop of Paris, St. Denis, the namesake of the church. Legend has it that after his martyrdom in 250 on Montmartre (the Mount of Mars transformed into the Mount of Martyrs), he picked up his decapitated head and walked the six miles to the site of the future church. St. Genevieve, another great saint of Paris, built the first chapel here in 475, and St. Denis’ relics have gravitated back and forth between this site and Paris for centuries, returning to the basilica for good in 1819.

The church grew in importance under the Franks, as their Merovingian king Dagobert expanded it and established the royal crypt. The Carolingians, under Pepin the Short who founded the Papal States, established an even larger church in 754, which was completed under his son, Charlemagne, who was present for its consecration. Pepin’s funerary monument and that of his father, Charles Martel, who defeated the Moors and chased them out of France after his victory at Poitiers/Tours, can be seen in the church.

The Abbot Suger (regent of France and royal historian) is the star of St. Denis, even with all of the famous rulers interred within. The year 1135 marks the beginning of his innovative building project, initiating the style we now call Gothic (a pejorative word from the 16th century), but referred to then as the French style (opus francigenum). You can see the rear of the church, the ambulatory, in the image above and how Suger sought two innovations: height and light. He achieved the height through flying buttresses, which enabled thinner walls in which larger windows of stained glass could be installed, as we see in the large choir windows. He also constructed a much higher nave using tall rib vaults and placed rose windows in the facade. An architectural revolution had been born.

The Capetian and Bourbon dynasties continued to use the church for royal burials and it also served as the place of coronation for queens. This led to the interment of the relics of another great saint, St. Louis IX, king of France. Later monarchs were not satisfied with simple effigies atop their tombs (in the style we saw above for Charles Martel), but built large monuments with numerous sculptures (including the pieces on the Resurrection I wrote about for Easter). The monument of Louis XII and Anne of Brittany provides a good example, built by the Juste brothers in the early 1500s:

St. Denis, as a symbol of the monarchy, suffered devastating attacks during the French Revolution. The abbey was shuttered in 1792 (along with all other monasteries in France) and the Deputy Barère ordered the destruction of “monuments to feudalism and the monarchy.” The bones of the royals were disinterred and thrown into a common grave. What was left was later re-interred after the restoration of the monarchy in a new crypt and remaining monuments returned from a national museum. Nonetheless, serious damage had been done as the lead roof was melted down and church left to nature’s devices. The famous writer, Chateaubriand, described how bad its state had become: “Saint-Denis is deserted. Birds fly in and out, grass grows on its smashed altars and all one can hear is the dripping of water through its uncovered roof”.

The 19th century saw the Church reopened by Napoleon (ironically as his intended place of burial) and major reconstruction commenced both for St. Denis and Notre Dame de Paris by the same famous architect, Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. Though controversial for the extent of his interpretation of the original work, he restored stone, glass, and even the monuments. Unfortunately, nature continued to take its toll and a lightning strike in 1837, followed by another storm in 1845, led to the dismantling of the north tower, though its stones have been stored awaiting reconstruction. The current neighborhood has changed quite a bit, as well, with over 20% of the inhabitants of the Department of Seine-Saint-Denis of Maghreb (North African) descent.

All great churches are a work in project. A church cannot be left to itself or it will crumble and burn. It must be guarded and renovated and as new needs arise, it develops (though we hope in continuity with the past). St. Denis’ missing spire finally will be rebuilt, beginning next year, helping this monumentally important church to regain some of its splendor: