Close by the St-Denis-Basilique métro station, the Basilique St-Denis (April–Sept Mon–Sat 10am–7pm, Sun noon–7pm; Oct–March Mon–Sat 10am–5pm, Sun noon–5pm) is generally regarded as the birthplace of the Gothic style in European architecture. The new basilica was built on the foundations of an earlier abbey church by Abbot Suger, friend and adviser to kings, in the first half of the twelfth century. With its two towers, three large sculpted portals and high rose window, the west front set the pattern of Gothic facades to come, but it was the choir that impressed contemporaries: the list of bishops attending the dedication service almost matches the list of great Gothic cathedrals that were to be raised in the next half century. Suger's innovations can still be seen in the lowest storey of the choir, but the upper storeys were rebuilt in the mid-thirteenth century, at the same time as the nave was constructed. The nave's extraordinary clerestory is almost entirely made of glass, a flat sheet of light soaring above the deep, opaque nave arcade, with the narrow triforium level holding the two styles in balance. It was a brilliant architectural idea, defining the mature Rayonnant style which dominated church architecture for the next century and a half. The abbey's royal history began with the coronation of Pepin the Short, in 754, but it wasn't until Hugh Capet, in 996, that it became the burial place of the kings of France. Since then, all but three of France's kings have been interred here, and their very fine tombs and effigies are distributed about the transepts and ambulatory (€5.50; closed during services). Among the most interesting are the enormous Renaissance memorial to François 1er on the right just beyond the entrance, and the tombs of Louis XII, Henri II and Catherine de Médicis on the left side of the church. Also on the left, close to the altar steps, Philippe the Bold's is one of the earliest lookalike portrait statues, while to the right of the ambulatory steps you can see the stocky little general Bertrand du Guesclin, who gave the English the runaround after the death of the Black Prince. On the level above him – invariably graced by bouquets of flowers – are the undistinguished statues of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette. Around the corner on the far side of the ambulatory is Clovis himself, king of the Franks way back in 500, a canny little German who wiped out Roman Gaul and turned it into France, with Paris for a capital.A good way to appreciate the atmosphere in the basilica is during the St-Denis Festival (end of June; tel 01.48.13.06.07, www.festival-saint-denis.fr) when it plays host to various concerts.
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