Discover the Basilica of Saint-Denis, the final resting place of the kings and queens of France.
Built on the grave of Saint Denis, a Bishop of Paris who died in 250 AD, the royal abbey of Saint-Denis was, from the death of King Dagobert in 639 AD until the 19th century, the burial place of 43 kings, 32 queens and 10 servants to the monarchy. The basilica was raised to the rank of cathedral in 1966.
Featuring over 70 recumbent statues and monumental tombs from the Renaissance, the basilica contains within its walls the largest collection of funerary sculpture from the 12th to the 16th centuries.
The church, designed by Abbot Suger, kings' advisor from 1135 to 1144, was completed in the 13th century during the reign of Saint Louis. A major work of Gothic art, this church was the first to place a great importance on light, a symbol of divinity, in religious architecture.
