Basilique Cathédrale de Saint Denis

The Saint-Denis basilica (universally known as the Basilica of Saint-Denis) is a Gothic-style church in the centre of Saint-Denis, in Seine-Saint-Denis, 5 kilometres north of Paris. Founded as an abbey church, it has also had the status of cathedral of the diocese of Saint-Denis since 1966. The former royal abbey of Saint-Denis is associated with the history of the Frankish world. The abbey church was called a "basilica" from Merovingian times. The church rises on the site of a Gallo-Roman cemetery, burial place of Saint Denis, martyred around 250. The abbey church's transept, of exceptional breadth, was intended to receive the royal tombs. It was thus the necropolis of the kings of France since the Robertians and direct Capetians, even though several Merovingian then Carolingian kings had chosen before them to lie there. The Saint-Denis basilica has been listed as a historic monument since the 1862 list. The garden surrounding it has been listed as a historic monument since 19 August 1926.

← Other sites in Seine-Saint-Denis