Our set is complete! Over the past several years we have visited virtually all of the great French Gothic cathedrals. And then some. But, despite its great historic importance, we had been saving Saint-Denis for a visit to Paris--it is in the outskirts. And now we are here, and, with Norm and Marie in tow, we made our final pilgrimage, finally. Saint-Denis is generally recognized as the birthplace of what came to be known as Gothic. (It was also the burial place of French royalty, until they discontinued the royalty thing.) Saint-Denis is a bit of a hodge-podge, Suger's original narthex and chancel, a 13th-14th century nave (with glazed triforium!), and windows that are pretty much all modern. But it's Suger's 12th century innovation--combining elements mostly in existence already in the Romanesque, here and there--that attracts and rewards. Great height and light, glass, incredibly thin walls, pointy arches, buttressing. No one else had yet strung all those pearls together.
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Facade; scaffolding; earlier, there were two non-symmetrical
tours; the north one dismantled for safety reasons... |
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| Sculpture on the left tympanum; the others covered up for the preservation work |
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| What's visible of the narthex |
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| Nave elevation; glazed triforia! a big innovation in the 13th century |
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| Nave view |
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| Chancel, the oldest part |
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| Choir, from a Normandy chateau...the originals no doubt burned in the Revolution |
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Some of the royal burial stuff; the custom then was to depict the depictee in
life (gloriously) above and in death below |
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| Royal marble morgue |
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| North rose window |
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| Spare parts |
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| Exterior elevation |
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| Ambulatory |
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| Chancel view |
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| Play of light |
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