Royal tombs, one of the oldest churches in Paris, and Le Tour Eiffel

Day 24 France 2012

Before we left Arkansas, I had made a list of churches I wanted to visit in Paris.  We had two churches left on the list, so decided to get them marked off today.   Mark and Vicki were off early to the Louvre, so Leon and I headed out to the first church, St. Denis.  It is in a northern suburb of Paris, so we took an RER train and the Metro to get there.  St. Denis is considered the first of the Gothic style of churches and was a one of the most powerful Benedictine Abbeys during the Middle Ages.  Most of the kings and queens of France were buried here from the 6^th century on.  The church is built on the site of a Gallo-Roman cemetery and excavations in recent years have found fifteen thousand ancient graves on the site.

From a Great Courses DVD on Cathedrals, we learned that there used to be two towers on the front, but the second tower was removed because it became unstable.  Also, this is the first church with a "rose" window.  The rose window was supposed to remind people of heaven.

The church is named after Saint Denis, the first Bishop of Paris, who was decapitated by the Romans around 250 A.D.  According to legend, Saint Denis picked up his head and walked from where he was martyred to the location of the St. Denis church, thereby indicating where he wanted to be buried.  On the front of Notre Dame Cathedral, there is a statue of him holding his head. 

When we walked in the front door of the church (which is at the back of the sanctuary), the whole area was covered with huge platforms and speakers and spotlights on tall stands.  We asked what was going on, and found out that there are concerts there during June.  We later saw some posters outside about the St. Denis concerts.  I don’t have a clue who or what would be performing there, but more than half of the church didn’t look like a church!

Behind and around the altar of the church and down in the crypt house the tombs of the Kings and Queens of France.  This section is blocked off from the rest of the sanctuary by black wrought iron fencing, and you have to go around to a side door and pay a fee to go in the Necropolis.  Once inside, though, it is just amazing to see all the effigies and tombs.

During the revolution, under orders from revolutionary officials, the tombs were broken open, and the remains were hauled out to two large pits where they were dissolved with lime.  The lead roof of the church was removed and melted down for bullets, leaving the inside open to the elements.  A forward thinking archeologist saved many of the monuments inside by claiming them as works of art for a museum.

When the Bourbons were restored to the throne, they exhumed the remains of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette (who had been buried at another church) and buried them in the crypt at St. Denis.  They took what they could find from the pits and put those ashes into an ossuary in the crypt covered with marble plates listing the names of those buried there.  The marble tombs and effigies were returned to the church.

Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI are buried in the crypt under large slabs of black marble.  There are beautiful statues of them up in the church.

There are effigies of most of the famous kings of France.  Most of the effigies have the person dressed in royal robes with crowns, but a few have the kings naked except for a cloth draped over their “privates.”  One thing I learned was that up until about the 15^th century, the kings and queens often had their bodies buried at St. Denis, but their hearts buried at a favorite church or abbey, and their entrails buried in a third location.  That sounded pretty gross to me!

Catherine de Medici and Henry II have elaborate tombs. 

Some of the earliest tombs only had an engraved slab laid over them.

As always, I loved the gargoyles.

We got back on the Metro and came to the last church on my list, St. Germain des Pres, which is one of the churches listed in The Da Vinci Code.  It was a Benedictine Abbey for 12 centuries.  We were disappointed with this church, but should not have been since some sources list it as the oldest church in Paris and others just as ONE of the oldest churches in Paris.  The inside of the church is very dark.  There are not lots of windows, and the interior was all painted in very dark colors.  The ceiling was navy blue with gold stars painted on it, and all of the columns were painted in dark colors. 

The tops, or capitals, of the columns are all carved with Bible stories or decorations, then are painted. 

There are painted scenes above every arch.  

We left the church and found a little crepe stand just beyond the gate and had another banana/Nutella crepe.  Oh, they are so good!  Back on the Metro and home to our little apartment.  

This has been such a wonderful apartment...plenty of room for 4 people and nice amenities.  Leon was wondering if there were any apartments in this building for sale and so did some Google searches.  Nope, none for sale, but if they were, they would be over a million dollars!  Wow!  I've never stayed in a million dollar apartment before!

We were cleaning out the fridge since Mark and Vicki leave tomorrow, and Leon and I leave on Wednesday, so we had eggs and bacon and baguettes for dinner.  Mark went to the patisserie and got wonderful fruit tarts for dessert.  Once again, no photos, since we gobbled them all up.

After dinner, we decided to make a night-time trip to the Eiffel tower to get some photos.  The weather was perfect, the lines were long, and there were lots of couples hand-in-hand strolling the park in front.  We got some nice photos...look for one on our Christmas letter.  Just as we were leaving, the twinkling lights came on.  The crowd always has a big applause and sighs when the lights go from solid to sparkling.