The forecast for today was quite a bit of rain so we decided
to head back to the Cathedral of St Denis where we had visited in 2011 just by
chance really. We were blown away back
then when we alighted from the train and around the corner was this beautiful
Cathedral flanked by the Council of the City buildings also magnificent just
sitting there. When we were there in
2011 Sam and I were the only tourists there for the entire afternoon, it is the
burial place of 42 kings, 32 queens 63 princes and princesses and 10 great men
of the realm.
I had said to anyone I knew who was going to be in Paris you must go to the
Cathedral of St Denis. Anyway this time
a very different story security at the front door, many tourists and
tours. We went into the Cathedral proper
first then decided to have a coffee in one of the restaurants close by before
we entered the choir and the crypt. When
we paid our fee we saw there was an English speaking tour at 2.00pm we joined
this, there were only five of us and our guide was a delightful young French
woman whose English was excellent she was passionate just what you want for
such a tour. It was to be 1 and half
hours but ended up being 2 and half hours, she gave us so much information a
few hours in Sam was flagging poor man.
This was a lovely afternoon we then had dinner at one of the restaurants
close by and caught the train back to our hotel. I will just add a little info about The Abbey
Church of Saint Denis. It had been
called a Basilica but after 1966 was upgraded to a Basilica Cathedral I can
only think this would have been after Vatican II which made great changes to
the Catholic Church I do not know for sure but imagine this would be so.
The basilica stands on the site of a Gallo-Roman cemetery
with the tomb of Saint Denis. The
long history of the St Denis Abbey Church dates back to the origins of the
French monarchy and the two histories very rapidly become inseparably
interwoven. St Denis was martyred in
250AD he was buried here. There were two
others martyred here too and these tombs became a focal point of worship. St
Genevieve built a basilica here. It is an exceptional monument and lavishly
patronized by Kings. The first official
histories of France
were written by the monks of St Denis.
A monastic community that appeared in the 7th
century made St Denis one of the most important and richest monasteries in Gaul .
It has so many stories I would be here forever. At the end
of the 13th Century all major construction was complete. In the 14th Century six chapels
were added. In order to protect the
Abbey during the Hundred Years’ War Abbot Guy de Monceau (1363-1398) erected a
high fortified girdle wall around the church. Construction would not resume
until the 16th Century.
Catherine de Medicis, queen of Henry II and widowed in 1159 decided to
erect a huge dome to house her husband’s tomb as well as her own.
The monastery asserted itself as one of the most important
centres of national historical research and writing.
Many many changes with time all sorts of destruction
decay. The French Revolution 1789 caused
further destruction. The treasure was
for the most part melted down in 1793.
In October of that year the Kings tombs were desecrated. Alexandre Lenoir made an attempt to salvage
the tombs for his future Museum of French Monuments. The tombs architecture was dangerously
exposed when the lead roofing was removed in 1794. The lead melted down and used for
ammunition. The founding of the Empire
brought renewed attention to the church, and restoration began by order of
Napoleon I in 1805.
There were many restorations under many different people
over the years.
There is a restoration ongoing now including cleaning the
stonework and restoring many of the stained glass windows which have not
already been done It is estimated to
cost two and half millions euros but I am sure will take much more than
this. A truly beautiful place so much
history just an immense privilege to be able to be in such a place.
Very exhausted we headed back to our hotel. Sabine and Sam
Saint Denis is not a place to be missed.
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