The Shocking History of Saint Denis Basilica, Episode 381
Join Us in France Travel Podcast
Annie Sargent
4.8 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 20 March 2022
⏱️ 63 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
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Summary
In this episode of the podcast, Elyse Rivin takes us on a visit to the Saint Denis Basilica.
- We'll hear about Abbé Suger who wrote about how light and color brings you to a sense of eternity and of heaven.
- We'll also hear about the shocking things Revolutionaries did to Saint Denis and to most of the bodies who were buried there.
- How Napoleon Bonaparte rebuilt Saint Denis.
- The restoration work by Violet le Duc.
- Why Annie and Elyse don't understand the vindictiveness of the French Revolution
Links mentioned in the Saint Denis episode
Montjoire Saint Denis from Les Visiteurs
Table of Contents for this Episode
- [00:01:20] Review of Annie’s VoiceMap tours
- [00:03:24] Annie and Elyse talk about Saint Denis Cathedral/Basilica
- [00:04:43] Saint Denis Basilica is not in a great neighborhood
- [00:05:55] Saint Denis Basilica or Cathedral?
- [00:07:11] Saint Denis Basilica, a church with ancient origins
- [00:07:39] Les Visiteurs: Montjoire Saint Denis !
- [00:08:10] A brief history of Saint Denis, the man
- [00:09:19] The myth of Saint Denis
- [00:11:25] Early rulers of France
- [00:13:08] Le bon Roi Dagobert a mis sa culotte à l’envers
- [00:14:22] Dynasties of French Kings
- [00:16:25] The original church of Saint Denis is sacked by the Vikings
- [00:17:27] Year 1000, between Romanesque and Gothic styles
- [00:18:13] Abbé Suger
- [00:19:11] Abbé Suger and gothic architeture: more glass
- [00:20:00] A sense of eternity and of the Spirit of God
- [00:22:08] The construction of Notre Dame began right after Saint Denis was finished
- [00:22:47] Making room for more Kings and Queens
- [00:24:33] The glorious days of Saint Denis
- [00:25:49] Louis XIV removes some funding from Saint Denis
- [00:27:17] The quasi destruction of Saint Denis at the French Revolution
- [00:28:41] Grave dessecration
- [00:30:53] Napoleon Bonaparte rebuilds Saint Denis
- [00:32:15] Only five of the windows are original
- [00:33:08] Recovering the bones and putting them back into Saint Denis
- [00:35:08] Lack of funds at Saint Denis today
- [00:35:54] Scattered stained glass windows
- [00:37:28] Violet le Duc renovation
- [00:38:10] Discovering new graves from the 500s under Saint Denis
- [00:38:35] Queen Arégonde wife of Clotaire
- [00:41:18] Annie’s impression of Saint Denis
- [00:42:59] French dynasties at Saint Denis
- [00:45:27] It’s hard to understand why Revolutionaries behaved the way they did
- [00:48:36] We recommend Saint Denis for people who’ve visited Paris several times
- [00:50:01] Thank you Patrons and Donors!
- [00:51:10] Annie’s Itinerary Planning Service
- [00:51:42] This week in French news
- [00:54:14] Archeological find under Notre Dame
- [00:54:59] The remains of the Jubé at Notre Dame
- [00:56:08] How French elections work in a nutshell
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Category: French History
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The This is, join us in France, episode 381. |
| 0:17.0 | 3.04. |
| 0:21.0 | 4.1. |
| 0:22.0 | Bonsieur, I'm Annie Sergeant and join us in France is the podcast where we talk about France. |
| 0:29.0 | Everyday life in France, great places to visit in France, French culture, history, gastronomy, and news related to travel to France. |
| 0:37.0 | Today I bring you a conversation with Elise Riven of Toulouse Guided Walks about the Saint-Denis Cathedral in the Paris region. |
| 0:47.3 | So I guess today it's going to be tales from the crypt. Or perhaps we'll tell you about a beautiful place where French kings and queens were laid to rest. |
| 0:59.0 | This podcast is supported by donors and listeners who buy my tours and services, |
| 1:04.4 | including my very popular itinerary planning service. |
| 1:08.4 | You can browse all of that at Annie's Boutique. |
| 1:11.3 | Join us in France.com. 4 slash Boutique, Join Us in France. Come 4 slash Boutique. |
| 1:14.8 | This week I want to tell you about my GPS self-guided tours of Paris |
| 1:18.8 | on the Voice Map app. |
| 1:20.7 | Derek wrote a review of my tours on the podcast Facebook group and this is what he wrote. |
| 1:27.0 | I want to put in a big plug for Annie's voice map tours. |
| 1:31.0 | They were the perfect way for my wife and I to explore neighborhoods. |
| 1:35.7 | One afternoon we did her Saint-Germain-de-Prae and the Latin quarter tour, and the next we did |
| 1:40.9 | Le Maré and Il de L'Acite at only nine dollars a piece they were worth their digital weight in gold. |
| 1:49.1 | I wore one earbud and my wife wore the other. It knows exactly where you are due to GPS so you can literally |
| 1:56.0 | leave it in your pocket and have Annie telling you where to turn, what to say. It's the little things |
| 2:02.1 | in the tour that make them great. We never would have seen the |
| 2:05.6 | cannonball in the wall, the cute little spice shop, the tiny streets, the best wine shop ever, and so many other things without the tours. Thank you Annie do more. |
... |
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