Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis), nave
isometric. After Violet-le-Duc.
sept, and a two-level apse with confessio around the burial sites of Denis and his two
companions. The east end was surrounded by a crypt chapel of three parallel aisles (ca.
830) during the abbacy of Hilduin.
The 12th-century abbacy of Suger (r. 1122–51), the next great age of the abbey, is also
marked by close ties with royalty, in this case the Capetians Louis VI and Louis VII. This
is perhaps the best-known moment in the history of the abbey, thanks to the preservation
of Suger’s history of his abbacy and of his building efforts, culminating with the
consecration of the enlarged church in 1144. From Suger’s writings, we learn not only of
the two architectural additions, the nave extension and western bays and the two-level
chevet, but also of their embellishment with sculpture and bronze doors, with stained
glass and bejeweled liturgical vessels intended to complement, even to surpass, such
venerated treasures as the Cross of St. Éloi (7th c.), the so-called throne of Dagobert (9th
c.), and the now lost altar frontal of Charles the Bald depicted by the Master of St. Gilles.
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