Paris--Day 3--Basilique Saint-Denis, Luxembourg Gardens

On Saturday, the students had the day free in Paris. We decided to use the time to check out an out-of-the-way church that we'd never been to, Basilique Saint-Denis. It's the burial site of most of France's monarchs since Clovis I (who died in 511). It is also the site where many queens were crowned and has a very strange and gruesome history (which I'll explain below).

It's a pretty church from the outside, but unassuming:



Here is the tomb of the first queen to be buried at Saint-Denis, Queen Arégonde, who died between 580-590. It's the most simple of the sarcophagi in the church:


A view of one of the windows:

Some of the sarcophagi:


Here is a picture of the sarcophagi of Clovis I (465-511) and Childebert I (496-558).

The tombs of Marie Antoniette and King Louis XVI. They weren't originally buried here, but in a mass grave during the Revolution. When the Bourbons returned briefly to power in the early 1800s, they searched the graves and found what they thought were the remains of the monarchs.

In addition to the executed monarchs, the Revolutionaries removed the remains of many of the French monarchs and threw them into mass graves during the main part of the Revolution. Later, when things calmed down, they were found and returned to the church. Some of the sarcophagi did not survive, so this is a room where some of the remains were returned to, thus the wooden coffins. In the background, on the shelves, are the organs of some of the monarchs.

This was a monument to Louis XVII, who was officially the King after his father was beheaded when he was eight. He was imprisoned and died in custody at the age of 10. His heart is preserved in the urn below the relief:

As many churches do in Europe, this one had a rose window with beautiful blues and purples:

After Saint-Denis, we grabbed some sandwiches for lunch and headed to the Luxembourg gardens to enjoy them. Sophie fell asleep on the way there, and slept while we ate. When she woke up, it took a while to get her bearings. I think these pictures of her expressions are so funny:


We wandered around the park, looking for a play area (which we found, but discovered that you had to pay to enter!), and stumbled across this giant head.

And Sophie clambered right on it and insisted that I take a picture:

By the pay park, we also stumbled upon a potato festival. Yes, you heard me right, a potato festival. This was the main display, and they had tents where you could taste different recipes and talk to someone about the wonderful attributes of the potato.


After the long day, we headed back to the hostel and ate dinner in our room. I only have one more day of Paris to post, and then hopefully, I can catch up on the rest of our pictures!