Matthieu
December 5th, 2004, 02:03 AM
Often considered as the first gothic church
The Basilica of Saint Denis (in French, la Basilique de Saint-Denis), a famous burial site for French monarchs, is located in Saint Denis (near Paris).
Saint Denis is a patron saint of France and, according to legend, was the first bishop of Paris. A simple shrine was erected at his burial place. There Dagobert I, king of the Franks, who reigned from 628 to 637, founded the Abbey of Saint Denis, attached to a Benedictine monastery.
The church is an architectural landmark, part of which is considered to be the first major structure built in the Gothic style. Saint Denis' Gothic structure that you see now was begun in 1136 by the Abbot Suger (1081 - 1155), but the major construction was not completed until the end of the 13th century.
The abbey is where the kings of France were buried for centuries and is therefore often referred to as the "royal necropolis of France". All but three of the monarchs of France from the 10th century until 1789 have their remains here. The abbey church contains some fine examples of cadaver tombs. The effigies of many of the kings and queens are on their tombs, but during the French Revolution, these tombs were opened by workers under orders from revolutionary officials. The bodies were removed and dumped in two large pits nearby. Archaeologist Alexandre Lenoir, saved many of the monuments from the same revolutionary officials by claiming them as artworks for his Museum of French Monuments.
Napoleon Bonaparte reopened the church in 1806, but the royal remains were left in their mass-graves. Following Napoleon's first exile to Elba, the Bourbons briefly returned to power. They ordered a search for the corpses of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, which were found on January 21, 1815 and brought to St. Denis and buried in the crypt. In 1817, the mass-graves containing all the other remains were opened but it was impossible to distinguish any one from the collection of bones. As such, the remains were placed in an ossuary in St. Denis' crypt, behind two marble plates with the name of each monarch duly recorded.
King Louis XVIII, on his death in 1824, was buried in the center of the crypt, near the graves of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Under the direction of architect Viollet-le-Duc, famous for his work on Notre-Dame de Paris, the monuments that were taken to the Museum of French Monuments were returned to the church. The corpse of King Louis VII, who had been buried at the Abbey at Saint-Pont and whose tomb had not been touched by the revolutionaries, was brought to St. Denis and buried in the crypt.
Some of the members of the royal families of France buried in the Saint Denis Basilica are:
* Childebert I (496-558)
* Fredegonde (Wife of Chilperic I of Neustria)
* Clovis -- (465 - 511)
* Dagobert I (603-639)
* Clovis II (635-657)
* Charles Martel
* Carloman (866-884)
* Pepin III(714-768) & with his wife Berthe (726 - 783)
* Francis I of France
* Francis II of France
* Henry II of France & Catherine de Medici
* Louis XVI of France & Marie Antoinette
The old Royal Abbey of St Denis has been for centuries the headlight of artistic, political and spiritual history of the Frank world. Its abbey-church, christened as a basilica from the origin, rises on the very site of a Gallo-roman cemeterry, burial place of Denis martyrized around 250. His own history was embellished by legends from Vth until XIVth century.The most famous being the one presenting him carrying his severed head, from Montmartre, place of his martyrdom, to Saint Denis his burial place, at the very spot where several edifices were dedicated to him from Vth until XIIIth century.
Beyond a carolingian crypt remnant of the edifice consecrated by Carolus Magnus in 775, the Basilica keeps the memory of two major buildings determining for the evolution of religious architecture. The Abott Suger, early humanist, tireless traveller, kings counselor and fine politician rebuilt the two ends of the building from 1135 to 1144,. The choir creates a true hymn to light, as a manifesto of new gothic art. The double deambulatory and his surrounding chapels create an uninterrupted crown of light thanks specially to the split of the bays in each chapel.
In 1231, Saint Louis orders the edifice's largest part to the famous architect Pierre de Montreuil.
Nicknamed because of its brightness, the "Lucerna", the lantern, the XIIIth century basilica is a novelty notably by the new use of fasciculated pillars (pillars made of bundles of small columns), by the openwork triforium and the immensity of the roses illuminating a transept of exceptionnal width intended to receive the royal tombs.
Place of memory, since high Middle-Age, the Dyonisian monastery linked its destiny to the monarchy asserting itself little by little as the privileged burial place of the royal dynasties under cover of Saint Denis cult. Dagobert is the first king to be buried there. Several Carolingians will be interred there amoung the Charles Martel, Pepin le bref and Charles the Bold. It is only after Hugues Capet that almost all the Capetians will be buried at St Denis. 42 kings, 32 queens, 63 princes and princess, 10 great men of the kingdom were laid there to rest. With more than 70 Renaissance monumental tombs, the royal necropolis of the Basilica asserts itself today as the most important group of funerary sculptures from XIIth until XVIth century.
The One hundred years war, (against England), the religions wars (Protestants U.S., Catholics), political troubles contribute to the decline of the Royal Abbey of St Denis long before the Revolution.
In 1793, revolutionnaries attack the symbol of monarchy. The tombs are disurontled, some destroyed. Exhumed bodies are thrown into common graves. The Basilica escapes total destruction.
In 1806, Napoléon Ist commanded the rehabilitation of the edifice. Then Louis XVIII handed back its necropolis function to the Abbey church.
The rehabilitation works go on all along the XIXth century directed by the architects Debret then Viollet-le-Duc from 1846.The outrage of centuries didn't affect the evocative power of memory in this original landmark of French nation, remaining as a jewel case for light.
http://www.quid.fr/qm/photos/basilique_3_bd.jpg
http://photoenligne3.free.fr/SeineSaintDenis/StDenis/D5601.jpg
http://www.simurgh.net/nada/space/sd2.jpg
http://cathedralecoutances.free.fr/images/oeuvredefoi/saintdenis.JPG
http://cs.smith.edu/~thiebaut/jya/pictures/MmePecheur/PIC00047.jpg
http://pascale.olivaux.free.fr/Histoire/Photos/Crypte.jpg
http://pascale.olivaux.free.fr/Histoire/Photos/Enfants_St_Louis.jpg
http://pascale.olivaux.free.fr/Histoire/Photos/Gisant_DuGuesclin.jpg
http://pascale.olivaux.free.fr/Histoire/Photos/Gisant_Childebert.jpg
http://pascale.olivaux.free.fr/Histoire/Photos/Tombeau_Henri%20II.jpg
http://pascale.olivaux.free.fr/Histoire/Photos/Tombeau_LouisXII.jpg
http://pascale.olivaux.free.fr/Histoire/Photos/Gisant_RobertII.jpg
http://www.quid.fr/qm/photos/basilique_2_bd.jpg
http://www.corpusetampois.com/cae-16-bontemps-claude.jpg
http://membres.lycos.fr/jgallay/paris/03_detail.jpg
http://ancre.chez.tiscali.fr/saint-denis/gisantf1.jpeg
http://ancre.chez.tiscali.fr/saint-denis/gisantl12.jpeg
This tomb deserves a special attention, it's the one of Charles Martel (aka Charles the Hammer), who wasn't a king but is buried as one.
http://pascale.olivaux.free.fr/Histoire/Photos/Gisant_Martel.jpg
The Basilica of Saint Denis (in French, la Basilique de Saint-Denis), a famous burial site for French monarchs, is located in Saint Denis (near Paris).
Saint Denis is a patron saint of France and, according to legend, was the first bishop of Paris. A simple shrine was erected at his burial place. There Dagobert I, king of the Franks, who reigned from 628 to 637, founded the Abbey of Saint Denis, attached to a Benedictine monastery.
The church is an architectural landmark, part of which is considered to be the first major structure built in the Gothic style. Saint Denis' Gothic structure that you see now was begun in 1136 by the Abbot Suger (1081 - 1155), but the major construction was not completed until the end of the 13th century.
The abbey is where the kings of France were buried for centuries and is therefore often referred to as the "royal necropolis of France". All but three of the monarchs of France from the 10th century until 1789 have their remains here. The abbey church contains some fine examples of cadaver tombs. The effigies of many of the kings and queens are on their tombs, but during the French Revolution, these tombs were opened by workers under orders from revolutionary officials. The bodies were removed and dumped in two large pits nearby. Archaeologist Alexandre Lenoir, saved many of the monuments from the same revolutionary officials by claiming them as artworks for his Museum of French Monuments.
Napoleon Bonaparte reopened the church in 1806, but the royal remains were left in their mass-graves. Following Napoleon's first exile to Elba, the Bourbons briefly returned to power. They ordered a search for the corpses of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, which were found on January 21, 1815 and brought to St. Denis and buried in the crypt. In 1817, the mass-graves containing all the other remains were opened but it was impossible to distinguish any one from the collection of bones. As such, the remains were placed in an ossuary in St. Denis' crypt, behind two marble plates with the name of each monarch duly recorded.
King Louis XVIII, on his death in 1824, was buried in the center of the crypt, near the graves of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Under the direction of architect Viollet-le-Duc, famous for his work on Notre-Dame de Paris, the monuments that were taken to the Museum of French Monuments were returned to the church. The corpse of King Louis VII, who had been buried at the Abbey at Saint-Pont and whose tomb had not been touched by the revolutionaries, was brought to St. Denis and buried in the crypt.
Some of the members of the royal families of France buried in the Saint Denis Basilica are:
* Childebert I (496-558)
* Fredegonde (Wife of Chilperic I of Neustria)
* Clovis -- (465 - 511)
* Dagobert I (603-639)
* Clovis II (635-657)
* Charles Martel
* Carloman (866-884)
* Pepin III(714-768) & with his wife Berthe (726 - 783)
* Francis I of France
* Francis II of France
* Henry II of France & Catherine de Medici
* Louis XVI of France & Marie Antoinette
The old Royal Abbey of St Denis has been for centuries the headlight of artistic, political and spiritual history of the Frank world. Its abbey-church, christened as a basilica from the origin, rises on the very site of a Gallo-roman cemeterry, burial place of Denis martyrized around 250. His own history was embellished by legends from Vth until XIVth century.The most famous being the one presenting him carrying his severed head, from Montmartre, place of his martyrdom, to Saint Denis his burial place, at the very spot where several edifices were dedicated to him from Vth until XIIIth century.
Beyond a carolingian crypt remnant of the edifice consecrated by Carolus Magnus in 775, the Basilica keeps the memory of two major buildings determining for the evolution of religious architecture. The Abott Suger, early humanist, tireless traveller, kings counselor and fine politician rebuilt the two ends of the building from 1135 to 1144,. The choir creates a true hymn to light, as a manifesto of new gothic art. The double deambulatory and his surrounding chapels create an uninterrupted crown of light thanks specially to the split of the bays in each chapel.
In 1231, Saint Louis orders the edifice's largest part to the famous architect Pierre de Montreuil.
Nicknamed because of its brightness, the "Lucerna", the lantern, the XIIIth century basilica is a novelty notably by the new use of fasciculated pillars (pillars made of bundles of small columns), by the openwork triforium and the immensity of the roses illuminating a transept of exceptionnal width intended to receive the royal tombs.
Place of memory, since high Middle-Age, the Dyonisian monastery linked its destiny to the monarchy asserting itself little by little as the privileged burial place of the royal dynasties under cover of Saint Denis cult. Dagobert is the first king to be buried there. Several Carolingians will be interred there amoung the Charles Martel, Pepin le bref and Charles the Bold. It is only after Hugues Capet that almost all the Capetians will be buried at St Denis. 42 kings, 32 queens, 63 princes and princess, 10 great men of the kingdom were laid there to rest. With more than 70 Renaissance monumental tombs, the royal necropolis of the Basilica asserts itself today as the most important group of funerary sculptures from XIIth until XVIth century.
The One hundred years war, (against England), the religions wars (Protestants U.S., Catholics), political troubles contribute to the decline of the Royal Abbey of St Denis long before the Revolution.
In 1793, revolutionnaries attack the symbol of monarchy. The tombs are disurontled, some destroyed. Exhumed bodies are thrown into common graves. The Basilica escapes total destruction.
In 1806, Napoléon Ist commanded the rehabilitation of the edifice. Then Louis XVIII handed back its necropolis function to the Abbey church.
The rehabilitation works go on all along the XIXth century directed by the architects Debret then Viollet-le-Duc from 1846.The outrage of centuries didn't affect the evocative power of memory in this original landmark of French nation, remaining as a jewel case for light.
http://www.quid.fr/qm/photos/basilique_3_bd.jpg
http://photoenligne3.free.fr/SeineSaintDenis/StDenis/D5601.jpg
http://www.simurgh.net/nada/space/sd2.jpg
http://cathedralecoutances.free.fr/images/oeuvredefoi/saintdenis.JPG
http://cs.smith.edu/~thiebaut/jya/pictures/MmePecheur/PIC00047.jpg
http://pascale.olivaux.free.fr/Histoire/Photos/Crypte.jpg
http://pascale.olivaux.free.fr/Histoire/Photos/Enfants_St_Louis.jpg
http://pascale.olivaux.free.fr/Histoire/Photos/Gisant_DuGuesclin.jpg
http://pascale.olivaux.free.fr/Histoire/Photos/Gisant_Childebert.jpg
http://pascale.olivaux.free.fr/Histoire/Photos/Tombeau_Henri%20II.jpg
http://pascale.olivaux.free.fr/Histoire/Photos/Tombeau_LouisXII.jpg
http://pascale.olivaux.free.fr/Histoire/Photos/Gisant_RobertII.jpg
http://www.quid.fr/qm/photos/basilique_2_bd.jpg
http://www.corpusetampois.com/cae-16-bontemps-claude.jpg
http://membres.lycos.fr/jgallay/paris/03_detail.jpg
http://ancre.chez.tiscali.fr/saint-denis/gisantf1.jpeg
http://ancre.chez.tiscali.fr/saint-denis/gisantl12.jpeg
This tomb deserves a special attention, it's the one of Charles Martel (aka Charles the Hammer), who wasn't a king but is buried as one.
http://pascale.olivaux.free.fr/Histoire/Photos/Gisant_Martel.jpg