PARIS - St Denis, St Sulpice, Notre Dame and the Ile de Saint-Louis

Gentle Friends as you may know I am a person who always goes travelling with a list/lists or folder of things to do.  The "list" is usually far to long with things and places to accomplish in the time I have, but I always have a plan B, C and D if something is closed or crappy or just plain overblown and not worth the time.  On my list this time was a visit to St Denis.  I had been to this church a few years ago and really enjoyed the place.  The outside was completely covered in scaffolding so I found this snap on line....

Here's a little history of the Basilica of Saint Denis (Basilique Royale de Saint-Denis) it is a large medieval abbey church in the city of Saint Denis.  Now this small city is part of the greater Paris, a northern suburb.  The building is of unique importance historically and architecturally, as its choir was completed in 1144 and the entire building is considered the first Gothic church ever built.

During its long history, Saint-Denis has been closely associated with the French Monarchy: starting with Dagobert I burial in 639, almost every French king was buried in the basilica.  The royal necropolis was looted and destroyed during the French Revolution.  The remains were removed from all the tombs and thrown together.  During the French Restoration of the Monarchy there was no way to sort the remains from the common grave they had been tossed, they were reburied in a common ossuary.

The last King to buried in Saint-Denis was Louis XVIII.  After France became a republic and an empire, Saint-Denis lost its association with royalty.

In 1837, lightning struck the spire of the north tower (built in 1219) and damaged it severely.  Three years later, the north tower was once again damaged by a storm.  It was at this time the spire was disassembled.  Plans are to start rebuilding this spire in 2015.

...... the rose window (or Catherine window) from the north transept showing the Tree of Jesse - the biblical

ancestors of Jesus....

.....  statues of Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette erected by his brother Count of Artois, who became Charles X - it was put here in 1830........

... two very early enamels of Jean (1248) and Blanche (1243) of France....

.......effigies of Henry II and Catherine de Medici....

.... a closeup of the bronze with the entwined initials of Henry and Catherine....

....... the tomb of Henry II and Catherine de Medici....

.... tombs of the Kings of France......

.... tomb of Louis XII and Anne of Bretagne.....

.... this is under the main alter in the crypt.....

...... the burial place of Louis XVIII...

.....  this tomb is from top to bottom and l to r... Louise of France 1737-1787, Elisabeth of France 1764-1794, Adelaide of France 1732 - 1800,  Victoire of France 1733 - 1799 (daughters of Louis XV) and on the bottom is Charles Valois, Duke of Angouleme d. 1650

..... this is the tomb of Marie Therese of Austria, Queen of France and wife of Louis XIV....

.... directly across from Marie Therese is the tomb of her husband, Louis XIV ....

.... and the last royal burial in 2004 the heart of Louis XVII, uncrowned king of France, and son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.....

...... in the crypt these tombs are from  t to b, and l to r - Louise of Lorraine 1553-1601, Marie Antoinette 1755 - 1793, Charles X 1757 - 1836, Louis VII 1120 - 1180, Louis XVI 1754 - 1793, Louis XVIII 1755 - 1824.......

..... also in the crypt is this Chapelle of the Princes, it's locked so I poked my camera through the gate and....

... snapped this picture.....

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The next church I went to St Sulpice...  the present church is actually the second building on the site, erected over a Romanesque church originally constructed in the 13th century.  Begun in 1646 - when Anne of Austria laid the first stone -  it continued on an off through the 18th century and was eventually competed with the mismatched towers. 

..... when I got off the Metro and walked up to the square the church on I found a great flea market going on - and you know how I love thrift shopping and flea markets.... so i spent quite a while shopping and NOT buying - but a great time - and in France this kind of sale is called a  - brocante is an open-air sale that includes professional dealers.....

...... this is the Chapel of the Sacred Heart.....  and you may know this church from the book The DaVinci Code.............

...and here is a little more info.......

In 1727 Jean-Baptiste Languet de Gergy, then priest of Saint-Sulpice, requested the construction of a gnomon in the church as part of its new construction, to help him determine the time of the equinoxes and hence of Easter.^[30] A meridian line of brass was inlaid across the floor and ascending a white marble obelisk, nearly eleven metres high, at the top of which is a sphere surmounted by a cross. The obelisk is dated 1743.

In 2005, the Archdiocese of Paris refused Ron Howard permission to film inside Saint-Sulpice when he was making The Da Vinci Code. The scenes set in the church that appear in the finished movie are not shot on location. According to an article in the British magazine 3D World, a computer-generated virtual set was used.^[34][35] Photographs taken inside the church were used to create texturemaps, but no detailed measurements were taken.

...... during the Revolution any reference to the Monarchy was chiseled off the plaque......

...... and the Great War dead memorial.......

.......  I thought you should see a snap of the Metro, this is what I use everyday all the time to get where I was going in Paris, not scary and easy to use!!

.... I saw this add all over the Metro - and you know how I love my Converse sneakers....  after Sr Sulpice I headed back over to the Ile de la Cite and Notre Dame.....

...... the lines where a mile long still so I passed it up and walked around to the back garden and then.....

....... across the 1828, Pont de l'Archevêché, a bridge covered in "love locks"........

...... The reason I was crossing the bridge and heading towards the Ile Saint Louis and this really famous ice cream place....... yes, there is always a line, but it moves fast....

..... I got a scoop of Pomplamouse (grapefruit) sherbet......

.... this is a little park like area I found on one of my first trips to Paris - it is at the very tip of Ile St Louis and has a few benches - often I have been lucky and gotten this bench that faces the Seine, it is a quiet respite in a very busy city- no shops and with few people and next to no traffic.........

.........  I was still thinking of dinner so I got back on the Metro and headed back to the hotel - I stopped off at a cafe for a beer, chips and a paper......  a great way to end a day!!

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Thanks again for stopping by!!

Take care,

edgar