building

Initially the nave of St-Denis had mosaic walls, a low wood roof and marble columns.

With the building campaign of 1135 Abbot Suger(1081-1151) created the first church in the gothic style. St-Denis relates to the thin wall Parisian churches of St-Germain-des-Pres, St-Martin-des-Champs, and St-Pierre-de-Montmartre, as well as to Norman churches such as the 1120 church of St-Martin-de-Boscherville with its rib and groin vaults, applied colonnettes and bay system, and Durham with its the buttress experimentation of the 1090s. Additionally St-Denis relates to Paray-le-Monial, St-Germain-de-Fly, St-Martin-des-Champs (Paris, 1140s) which experimented with the stiffening of masonry arches. The incorporation of older columns and stone from Gallo-Roman buildings creates references to Rome and the Gallo-Roman past of France. The ambulatory was to assist with circulation.

Apparently the first vaults of Suger's choir collapsed and were replaced within a hundred years - the original piers may not have been substantial enough to bear the weight. The thin ambulatory columns were installed as part of Suger's campaign, 1140-1144, and the thicker choir columns were presumably required after the collapse, c. 1231.

decorative program

West Facade Portal Sculpture
North Portal	Center Portal	South Portal
This portal includes the Virgin and zodiac images on the piers. Initially this portal, unlike the others, was decorated with mosaic.	Last Judgment, Christ amidst apostles and angels (including Suger). This portal previously had a central column and lintel, and gilded bronze doors showing Suger with crook before Jesus among pilgrims of Emmaus	Story of St. Denis with roundels showing seasons and months
The portal scheme relates to theology of Dionysius the Areopagite.

The façade also included column figures of kings and patriarchs which are now dispersed.* Inside were the tombs of Merovingian, Carolingian, Robertain, and Capetian kings and nobility. Since portions of the bodies were buried in separate places a French king would have several burial places. Louis IX reorganized the tombs at St-Denis, placing Merovingian and Carolingian rulers on the right side, Robertian and Capetian rulers and on the left, and Philippe-Auguste, Louis VIII, and, eventually, himself in the middle, linking the two sides.

Just as the older church of St-Denis was bright with mosaics and gold the St-Denis of Abbot Suger was bright with stained glass. For Suger light functioned as a sign and expression of the divine. He spent 700 pounds on the windows of St-Denis. St-Denis had the first west rose window which Suger installed c. 1135 by the chapel of St. Michael. Six windows from the time of Abbot Suger remain, however, this is not enough for developing an understanding of the program. These six windows are: Tree of Jesse, Infancy of Christ, Life of St. Paul and of Moses, Saint Benedict and Saint Vincent, Signum Tau, and a portion of the passion window.  Suger spent 700 pound on the windows, a vast sum. The glazed triforium dates from 1260,1280. Some of the glass is from the time of Napoleon.

historical context

St- Denis underwent Cluniac reform c.996, and as the burial place of kings St-Denis enjoyed royal patronage and support.

Abbot Suger (1081-1151, Abbot, 1122+) reformed St-Denis, lead the St-Denis building campaigns of 1135 and 1140, and added to our understanding of that architecture through his writings. He is known to us primarily through those writings and that of his biographer, brother William. Suger first addressed the criticism of Bernard of Clairvaux and reformed St-Denis. While Suger made the monastic rules more stringent he also added more feast days, presumably in an effort to make the new rules more acceptable to his monks. Suger reorganized the monastery economically, tripling St. Denis revenues and liberating the serfs under him. His new choir was the first full manifestation of the gothic style.* He was enthralled with light and its symbolic value. He perceived light and beauty as signs, signs that functioned as bridges to God. His outlook was Platonic in nature.* When Louis VII went on crusade Suger, with the blessing of the king and pope, governed France.

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