Know all about Basilica of St. Deniso
Posted On March 28, 2012
France is a land of intriguing culture and extremely fascinating locales. This is one Parisian beauty which any tourist wouldn’t mind taking. So come to France and see the entire land come alive with a lot more than you could imagine.
While here in Paris, the historical monuments surely deserve a mention as they form the mainstay of tours here. The Basilica of St. Denis is one such structure which is surely a great cathedral basilica in this lovely city of pleasurable delights. This has been named after France’s patron saint and is a great place where the best of historical constructions have come up. It is believed that it stands where Saint Denis was buried. Saint Denis was also known as Saint Dinonysius. He was buried sometime in the 275 AD. Thus the abbey which later on became a church became a place of pilgrimage.
It was initially founded in the 7th century and today the Basilica of St. Denis was constructed in a Gothic design sometime in the 12th century. The Regent of France of Abbot Suger constructed this. From the 7th century, the Basilica of St. Denis had a new role as the place where the kings and the queens of France were buried. The St. Denis Basilica remained so for many years and then most of the French monarchs were buried here. But during the French Revolution there were tombs that were opened and the remains inside them removed.
Then it was in the year 1966 that the Basilica of St. Denis became a cathedral. Today this historical structure of the Basilica of St. Denis is open to the tourists and gives views that are fascinating and provide the best sights of this lovely façade into the beautiful interiors. Visitors get to see the lovely necropolis within this beautiful historical façade of the St. Denis.
There are guided tours that are available here for the tourists and the tour guides speak Italian, French, English, and Spanish and these tours go on for a period of an hour and a quarter or maybe an hour and a half. Tourists coming to this part of the world in France surely go back with a greatly historical experience and it is a treat for the history lover to be in the Basilica of St. Denis.
Situated in the northern region of Paris, the Basilica of Saint Denis or the Basilique Saint Denis is a very important Catholic Basilica which is located in Saint Denis. It is very famous amongst the architecture lovers for its Gothic kind of architecture and is in fact often compared to the way the Westminster Abbey is famous for its elegance and charm.
Thus Saint Denis who was the French patron saint who was also the first bishop of Paris has this simple shrine that initially built on the burial place which had Saint Denis also buried here.
The structure today was started by the Abbot Suger and did not get completed till the 13th century. Today a great landmark, and a major Gothic structure, the Saint Denis Basilica is surely a visual delight.
The abbey church with its lovely cadaver tombs has had all the monarchs except three of the region here and they were buried from the 10th century till the year 1789. There are many effigies of the queens and the kings in the tombs and it is sad that the French revolution brought about destruction of most of them. In fact it was the works of the archaeologist Alexandre Lenoir that saved the monuments from further getting destroyed as he claimed them as precious artworks for the Museum of the French Monuments.
Then in the year 1806, Napolean Bonaparte opened the church again but the royal remains were then left in the mass graves only. Then Napolean got exiled to Elba and the Bourbons came to power. When they ordered for the copses of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI to be searched then they were duly found in the year 1815 and then brought to St. Denis and buried here.
With the rose window and a lovely cremated parapet here providing the utmost magnificence to the structure the Saint Denis Basilica is surely a structure to be proud about in France.
