basilique cathedral de Saint-Denis

 

Today we went to the basilica of Saint Denis, to the north of Paris.  It was where the french buried their kings - when they had them.  But during the Revolution, the bodies in the tombs were thrown into pits and I believe the metal in the coffins used for other purposes - like weapons.   But somehow, many of the memorial statues survived, and are on display at Saint Denis.

The amazing thing, to me, is that this basilica is a record of every French monarch, in one place.  You can think of the England, as an example, where the kings and queens are buried at various locations around the country.

Saint Denis was the first bishop of Paris, and is the patron saint France.  He is also a cephalophore - one of several who had their heads cut off, but just picked them up and continued on their way. I bet the executioner just scratched his (own) head and wondered what to cut off next!  Pic from Google, of Saint Denis.

    

 The basilica from the outside

 

At the back of the church are the royal tombs.  Once inside, I was so busy studying the various monuments that I forgot to get an overall pic.  This one is from Google.  And there were over 70 tomb monuments, each one described.. 

 

 

 

However, the actual bones were scattered during the French Revolution. They were gathered and put together in an ossuary.  There are panels with the names of those whose bones are here

 Archaeological crypt

 

 

"If a grain of wheat falls on the ground, it doesn't die, it rests there. But if it dies, it has much fruit".  Not much of a sales pitch!