The Basilica of Saint Denis Private Tour

The origin of the Saint Denis Basilica

The Saint Denis basilica takes its name from the grave on which it was built, the grave of Denis, a legendary character considered a Patron Saint of Paris. According to the catholic tradition, Denis was sent by the Pope in the year 250 to evangelize the northern roman Gaul, and his preachings were so successful that he became the first bishop of Paris. Tortured and beheaded by the romans, he performed a miracle, delivering a sermon after his execution, and bearing his head in his hands, he marched to Saint-Denis, hence expressing his will to be buried there.

The Basilica Saint Denis: a gothic style

Our expert Versailles / French Monarchy expert guide will tell you the story of this site steeped in history. The basilica is now the only remain of a large, amazingly powerful abbey, one of the most powerful institution of the catholic world indeed. Especially from the 12th Century, when the basilica was rebuilt in a new, revolutionary style, making this church the very first gothic architecture in the world, launching a new fashion throughout north-western Europe: the Gothic style and its stained class windows, since Gothic is about height, light and color. A style devoted to build churches always higher, in an attempt to get closer to God, churches flooded in divine light.

The Basilica Saint Denis: the unique monuments

The numerous funeral monuments are exceptional. You will have the opportunity to admire the statues made of marble or stone, representing the kings and queens of France, some of them bearing the authentic features of their faces, being modeled from death masks.

The Royal funeral at the Saint Denis Cathedral

During this fascinating guided tour of Saint Denis Cathedral you’ll be told the amazing staging of the Royal funerals, most significant of the need to assert the Royal Greatness, so dear to Louis the XIV’s heart, the events which preceded and followed the Sun King’s death, the 10 hours procession from Versailles to Saint-Denis, the ceremony itself, conceived as a magnificent show, the apparent grief of the French people during this imposed 2 months national mourning…

The Basilica Saint Denis: link between the revolution and the Monarchy

Your Versailles / Monarchy expert guide will reveal you the tragic fate of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette during the French Revolution, when the people in fury desecrated the church and how the monument and statues miraculously survived the French revolution… Also how kings’ remains didn’t survive the most zealous revolutionaries’ decision to exhume them and throw them into a mass grave. It’s during the short period of the Restauration of the absolute Monarchy, between 1814 and 1830 that an attempt to restaure the desecrated necropolis was made. But how to reassemble the missing pieces of this immemorial puzzle ? Your guide will reveal this plot to you… He will tell you about the tragic end of the last royal family : Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette and their 10-year-old son Louis XVIIth, whose memory is honored by a cristal urn allegedly bearing the heart of the young king.

Museum of sculpture, birthplace of Gothic art, final resting place of French Kings and Queens, and fascinating stories about them, the Saint Denis Basilica tour is meant to surprise and amaze you. This tour can only be made by an expert of the French Monarchy.