Basilica of Saint-Denis – the burial place of the kings of France (or at least most of them)

Even though it wasn't a particularly hot day in August 2019, cold beads of sweat were breaking out on my forehead. I sat in one of the carriages of line 13 and waited forSubway You will arrive at your destination station: the Basilica of Saint-Denis.

Eventually the train stopped at the station and I went out onto the street. The tension was building, after all, it's not every day you travel in one of the most notorious suburbs of Paris, but I was determined not to give up and reach my destination. I walked as fast as I could and to my great joy I reached the square in front of the basilica. I expected to see a kind of French replica of the Kasbah of Nablus or the main street of Ramallah, but to my surprise I encountered a rather impressive city hall building and a French bistro.

So let me dispel a myth right from the start: Saint-Denis is not a scary and dangerous place as they have made it out to be (at least not the basilica area), and therefore it is really not recommended to give up on this beautiful basilica. That's right, inParis There are quite a few Lovely churches However, most of the kings of France are buried in the Basilica of Saint-Denis, so you will find quite a few beautiful tombs and a fascinating history here.

So today we will visit, at least virtually, this beautiful church, learn about the saint it is named after, and discover some of the most beautiful tombs to be found there. And don't worry, of course I didn't forget to include a few practical details such as directions, opening hours, and ticket options. All of these will be waiting for you at the end of the article.

So let's set off and visit the final resting place of most of the kings of France.

The history of the Basilica of Saint-Denis

Suddenly a saint stands up, raises his head and begins to walk.

Our story begins with a man named Dionysus, who was born in Greece and lived in the third century A.D. This Dionysus came to Lutetia (as Paris was called in the Gallo-Roman period), with the aim of converting the city's residents to Christianity, and because he was very successful in his work, he became a threat to the religious-pagan establishment in the city.

After Dionysus (or Dani in French) did not heed warnings that he should stop preaching Christianity, the local ruler decided to arrest him along with his accomplices Eluterios and Rusticus and throw them into prison. In a trial held for them, all three were accused of witchcraft and sentenced to death.

The execution was to take place on the top of a hill in the north of the city, on which stood a temple to the god Mars. The three condemned to death were led by several soldiers to what is now the rue des Martyres (street of the martyrs, named after them), but they never reached the top.

The soldiers grew tired on the way and decided to behead Denionis and his companions where the streets des Martyres and Yvone le Tac meet today (today a chapel built in their memory by members of the Jesuit Order can be found there).

However, after the deed was done, Denis stood up, raised his head, and began to walk. He walked several kilometers north, continuing to preach to passersby and returnees, until he met a Roman noblewoman named Catula. He stopped, placed his head in her hand, and collapsed. The place where he fell would become the Abbey of Saint-Denis, while the hill on which he was beheaded would become Montmartre, which means “Mountain of the Tortured Saints.”

And before we continue, am I the only one who finds the story of a man who gets up and starts walking (with his head in his hands) reminds him of the following poem by Shlomo Artzi?

Burial place of the kings of France

As mentioned, Denis's name spread far and wide and he quickly became a saint. As a result, the place where he was buried became a very popular place of pilgrimage. During the 7th century, the French king Dagobert I (1-603) decided to establish a monastery there and Saint Denis himself was given a magnificent tomb, made by Saint Eloi (639-588).

Dagobert I was considered one of the most powerful kings of the Merovingian dynasty, but he did not reign for long and died at the age of 1. Before his death, he ordered that he be buried in the Benedictine monastery in Saint-Denis, which he had founded, thus creating a tradition that would endure (with a few exceptions) until the 36th century.

And make no mistake, the kings of France did not go to Saint-Denis just to be buried. They used to send their sons there to be educated by the monks and whenever they entered Paris they did so after visiting and praying there. This is why the rue Saint-Denis became such an important street in Paris, after all, living kings passed through it (south towards Louvre Palace) and dead kings (north towards the monastery where they would be buried). Beyond that, the symbol of Saint Denis became the official symbol of the kings of France, with which they would go into battle while shouting Montjoie Saint Denis!

The first Gothic church

But let's go back a little. As I wrote, at the place where Saint Denis was buried, there stood a small chapel that was used by pilgrims. The chapel became a relatively modest monastery and during the 8th century the first church known to us was built (the Carolingian version of Saint Denis, named after the dynasty that ruled France at the time).

During the 12th century, Abbé Suger (1080-1151), abbot of Saint-Denis and close friend of Louis VI and Louis VII, decided to rebuild the abbey church. He decided to use the newest techniques of his time (for example, the rose-shaped stained glass found on the west facade of the church) and thus created a new style, which was initially known as the “French style” and later (during the Renaissance) received the pejorative name “Gothic style”.

The rebuilding process of the church began in 1135 and ended in 1264, during which new tombstones were built for several of the Carolingian and Capetian kings, who were buried there.

At the same time, the kings of France continued to be buried in Saint-Denis and their tombstones became more and more magnificent as time passed. Take, for example, the tombstone of Anne of Brittany And Louis XII.

The magnificent tombstone you see in the picture is not the original tombstone, which was vandalized during French RevolutionThis is a tombstone from 1830 in a style that was very popular in the 15th and 16th centuries. According to this style, the couple can be seen above praying, while below their bodies can be seen sculpted in a very realistic manner (to show all mortals what their fate will be).

And by the way, it's not just the kings of France who were buried in Saint-Denis. You can also find there some of the most important commanders of the French army, including Bertrand de Guequin, who managed to change the course of the Hundred Years' War and expel the English from a large part of the territories they had conquered.

The revolutionaries desecrate Saint-Denis

When it breaks out French Revolution The revolutionaries begin to desecrate the churches of France. The reason for this was their need to obtain money to fill the empty coffers of the newly created Republic, and their hatred of religion, which they saw as an enslaving mechanism.

For them, Saint-Denis was a double symbol, both of the religion they hated and of the monarchy, so it is not surprising that the revolutionaries set out there on a campaign of destruction and vandalism. First, they opened the tombs and threw the bones into a lime pit. Second, they robbed gold art objects and destroyed a large part of the tombs and statues. They even removed and destroyed a group of statues, which originally depicted the kings of Israel, because they thought they were the kings of France (the same thing happened inNotre Dame Church).

And if all this wasn't enough, the revolutionaries broke most of the stained glass windows of Saint-Denis in order to use the lead, which held the glass inside the window, to produce bullets. As a result, today only 5 of the basilica's stained glass windows are original, and the rest were recreated during the 19th century.

Of course, during the Revolution, the place ceased to be used as a royal mausoleum, and when Louis XVI (January 16) and Marie Antoinette (October 1793) were beheaded, their bodies were respectfully thrown into the Madeleine Cemetery (you can read about the fascinating history of their burial and the chapel that was built there in the article Chapelle Expiatoire – the mysterious chapel in the heart of ParisOnly after the return of the Bourbons did the royal couple receive a burial befitting their status and a beautiful tomb.

The bones of the son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, aka the unfortunate Louis XVII (16-17), were also moved here. However, this happened in 1785, after genetic tests definitively proved that the body found in the church of Saint Marguerite, belongs to him.

Fortunately, the revolutionaries did not damage the walls of the church, so the building remained, more or less as it was. Napoleon began to renovate the church and even created a crypt there for himself and his family. However, as we all know, Napoleon did not get to be buried in Saint-Denis and “had to make do” withPalais des Invalides.

After the Bourbons returned, renovations continued on both the church and the tombs, but then nature decided to intervene and try to destroy what even the revolutionaries had failed to do. In 1837, the north tower was struck by lightning, and nine years later, a storm raged through the place, causing serious damage.

The municipality decided to take down the tower temporarily, for safety reasons, and this “temporary” became almost permanent. In 2016, the French Ministry of Culture decided to restore its former glory and rebuild the tower, but it did not bother to provide a proper budget for the project. Only after a special association was established, which raised the necessary funds, did serious talk begin about rebuilding the tower and a date was even given for the start of work: May 2020.

I have no idea when the work began or whether the coronavirus has also joined those forces of nature that, for some reason, hate the north tower. In any case, I will continue to monitor and see if there is any development on the subject, and for now the facade remains with one tower.

Saint-Denis – Tourist Information

I hope that the fascinating history of the church, and of those buried there, has convinced you not to be afraid and to come visit it on your next trip to the City of Lights. If you decide to take my advice, you can find all the details you need to plan your trip there below.

How do we get there?

The easiest way is to take metro line 13. Note that this line splits at the La Fourche station and you must take the line that ends at the Saint-Denis – Université station, otherwise you will end up in Asnières (and if this happens by mistake, you are welcome to visitThe animal cemetery which is there).

Opening Hours

The basilica is open every day from 10:00 AM to 18:15 PM, except on Sundays, when there is mass, and then the church opens to the general public only at 12:00 PM.

Where do you buy tickets?

Since this is not a simple church but a fascinating museum dealing with the burials of the kings of France, there is a fee to enter the place. Although there are not always lines, as with any attraction, it is highly recommended to buy tickets in advance so that you can go straight inside and not wait in line.

If you want to buy a ticket online you can find it atMonuments page On my website.

Are all the kings of France buried in Saint-Denis?

The answer is that almost everyone is buried there. Some were originally buried there and the bodies of others were moved there later (for example: the bodies of the Merovingian kings, who were moved there from the monasteries of Sainte-Geneviève andSaint-Germain-des-PrésThe only kings who were not buried in Saint-Denis are:

Louis XI (11-1423)

Who is buried in the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Cléry in the town of Cléry Saint André, which is not far from Orléans.

Charles X (10-1757)

He fled France during the 1830 Revolution and died in the cholera epidemic of 1836 in the town of Goriza, now in Slovenia. He is buried in a monastery there, along with his son, the Count of Angoulême, who ruled France for about 20 minutes as Louis XIX.

Louis Philippe (1773-1850)

Like Charles X, Louis Philippe fled France (this time following the 10 Revolution) and died in England. However, unlike Charles X, his body did not remain in England and was transferred to the royal tomb of the Orléans in the town of Dreux. You can read about it in the article  Dreux – the burial place of the last king of France.

Want to visit more interesting cemeteries in Paris?

The cemeteries of Paris contain many beautiful tombs and fascinating historical stories. Therefore, it is not surprising that they have become one of the main attractions in Paris. If you would like to get more information about the different cemeteries in Paris, you can find it in the article The Cemeteries of Paris If Only the Graves Could Talk.