When Clovis I, widely considered to be the first King of France, chose Saint Denis as patron saint of the kingdom, he gave this site, where legend has it Saint Denis is buried, an importance it would never lose. His descendant, Dagobert I, was buried here in 640, and from that day on, the Basilica of Saint Denis became the necropolis of the Kings and Queens of France, up to and including Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.
Our visit will take us to meet some famous characters from the history of France: Charles Martel, Pippin the Younger, Philip IV the Fair – who disbanded the Knights Templar –, Francis I, Catherine de Medici, etc. Given that the artists who engraved or carved the tombs where the leading exponents of their age, we can observe the evolution of the art of sculpture over 1000 years, as well as a sense of what death meant to all these sovereigns.
Finally, the Basilica of Saint Denis – thanks to Abbot Suger – marks the birth of Gothic architecture which was to be adopted in the rest of the Western world.