Basilica of Saint-Denis

Paris · Frankrike · Church

The bishop was beheaded up on Montmartre, picked up his own head and walked — and did not stop until here, six kilometres to the north.

France's royal burial church stands on the spot to which the first bishop of Paris, according to legend, carried himself. Around the year 250 Denis was seized by the Romans on the hill north of the city — hence Montmartre, the mount of martyrs — and beheaded. The legend has him bend down, pick up his own head, wash it and walk on with it in his hands, still preaching, six kilometres north, until he collapsed where the basilica was later raised. The woman who buried him had the first chapel built over the grave. The church went on to hold 43 kings and 32 queens, from Dagobert in 639 to Louis XVIII in 1824. During the Revolution the tombs were broken open and the bones thrown into mass graves; what was returned in 1817 could never be sorted correctly again.

FAQ

Hvor ligger Basilica of Saint-Denis?

Basilica of Saint-Denis ligger i Paris, Frankrike.