Visit at Saint-Denis

Fashionably late, I got the good old Covid. I’m sitting in the heart of Paris, grey skies out the window looking at me, occasionally the sound of a bus or a truck passing through the street.

We have settled the terms of our much-expected move to Paris, At the end of March. We are about to move into a very unique old apartment on the ground level of a 20th quarter building, with large windows and two separate levels, wooden floors, and the view of an old train rails park. I am very excited, the list of things I wish to do in Paris only gets longer and longer.

This would be the right place to mention this post will not be very interesting, I just wanted to write down a summary of a few things I experienced lately.

I planned a few things for the holidays here in Paris, and then Covid travel restrictions came back and we had to go to Israel earlier than expected, before Christmess. We spent 3 weeks in Israel which was awesome, but perhaps a bit too long.

Coming back to Paris was a wonderful reminder of how magical can the European winter be when you’re well dressed. For a while now I had the Cathedral of Saint-Denis at the top of my list, and I am glad to say I finally made it. And it did not let me down.

Very quickly running through the names:

Cathedral: a church that contains the cathedra of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a central religious leader.

Basilica: a building of public importance, usually a church, and typically with the famous three corridors inner structure.

Gothic style: super-popular European architecture style, in use from the 11th century to the 16th. Most of us know the Gargoyles, the huge Rose windows, and the Ribbed vaults. Personally, I love the Flying buttresses, the human size sculptures, and the height of the gothic cathedrals, which stems from contemporary architectural breakthroughs.

At Saint-Denis, you will find the burial place of over a hundred French kings and queens. Some of them are buried under a simple stone and some under a wonderful monument. The monuments create a majestic atmosphere, overshadowed only by the historical context of the figures buried at the site.

In my view, a site, like art, has a subtext, text, and context. There’s what you see in front of you (text), there’s what existed around the creation, everything that it can stand on (context), and finally, there’s what’s said between the lines, the meaning you don’t see, the feelings it invoke in you (subtext).

The text of St. Denis is amazingly simple, compared to later cathedrals of similar importance. It is not very big. Being one of the very first complete gothic structures, it has early and underdeveloped versions of most of the typical gothic characteristics. Its surrounding is almost insulting — dull apartment buildings, a small square with a couple of touristic coffee shops, a small city park. No line of visitors, no famous picture locations. The un-impressive scene outside flowers through and the first steps inside establish the impression that this place is not something you’ll remember. It’s big inside, clean beautiful stone walls, quite standard. Everything changes when you walk past the paid visit line. Only 10 EUR will grant you access to an experience I hope to never forget.

The context of this burial ground has no limits. The oldest kings to be buried there are 6th-century figures. The cathedral was completed in the 12th century. This blew my mind. As early as the 12th century, the people of St. Denis had a historical sense and a firm understanding of their own nation’s story, to establish a memorial for kings that were already 500 years dead at that time.

Fans of different times in history will find different things to get excited about in St. Denis. For me, the pre-revolutionary history just really comes to life in the place, in a way that I never experienced before: Louis XV’s heart is kept in a small jar.

One would imagine Louis XVI, the king who fled France during the revolution, who was imprisoned and had his head chopped off, will not be entitled to glory in such a place. One would be wrong. Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette were brought to St. Denis by Louis the XVIII, after the revolution and the Napoleone I years. They received a monument at the ground level AND a dignified burial place in the basement. I find this amazing. Not 50 years after the bloody, painful, traumatic revolution the French people experienced, a monument was erected in remembrance of the king who is perhaps the greatest symbol of the corrupt old monarchy. Louis XVI had the name of a traitor, a coward. Many people still alive must have had very vivid memories of the horrors of the revolution, when this monument was erected. How old was the stonemason that put the dark stone in place? He must have been at least a child during the revolution. Did his parents take him through the streets, chanting “kill the king”? It would have been the same king he is now laying to rest at the most dignified place of all.

On the bottom floor, you will find placks commemorating the full list of dynasties that ruled France, from the 5th century to the 19th. This gives another dimension to the historical significance of the place. Just the fact you can put this building in the story of kings from the 5th century, and from the 19th century, is mind-blowing to me. The historical sense of the people that operated and designed this place for so many years makes me rethink our concept of “long ago” and “past”.

There is much more to say about St. Denis but I only wanted to leave a note of what I felt during my visit. There’s an even older roman burial ground below the cathedral, which was looted and then preserved empty of bodies. There are wonderful instances of colorful light falling from the stained glass windows onto the marble monuments for the stained glass lovers. St. Denis is also a point of interest for architecture enthusiasts, allowing a glimpse of an important phase in the development of the gothic style. It really gives a whole other meaning to places like the cathedral of Tours once you’ve seen how things seemed when they just started working on it, compared to how they look when they finished.

I have no clue who is the audience of this piece, but if you read all through the end and liked it, please do yourself a favor and go visit St. Denis.

Great cuscus to finish off with at this place (provided that you are not looking for a fancy place. Because this is not).