St. Denis – An Unfortunate Day Trip From the Airport
Ottawa-Montreal-Paris-Cairo… It knew it was going to be a long flight and with the 6hr layover in Paris, I pondered what to do with my time. I had just watched the Roman Polanski film “The Officer and the Spy” while on the plane and with this small glimpse of France I was eager to go explore, even for such a short period of time. For those of you who have not had the “pleasure” of commuting though chaotic Charles de Gaul airport, six hours may seem like a long time but the airport is far from the city and long lines mean that international travellers should go through customs early. Yet the more I thought about it the less I was deterred. The food options are awful and overpriced, even for an airport. Groggy from my overnight flight I was determined not to waste a day at the airport and so I put my bag on my bag and made my way out of the airport towards St. Denis.
The Uber driver that picked me was curious as the why I was going to St. Denis, after all it was a dangerous suburb of Paris, or so he warned me. I knew this already but told him I meant to see the cathedral – he looked back at me perplexed as if I had told him some odd secret. He dropped me off and wished me luck.
As an aside the 2020 corona-virus riots took place in St. Denis only a few months after my visit, with protesters flipping cars. This was only a few months after my visit!
Table of Contents
History of St. Denis
Who is St Denis?
You cannot understand the history of St. Denis, without understanding the story of the martyred saint that gave the city its name.
In Gallo-Roman times there was a preacher in Lutetia (Paris) by the name of Dionysius in Greko-Roman. That name can be translated in french to Denis and he was the first Bishop of what would later be called Paris. His diocese was located on l’Ile de la Cite, near where the Notre Dame cathedral stands today, while the Roman city was on located on the left bank of the river, on higher ground. The Roman authorities grew concerned with his preaching, in large part due to its vast success in attracting new converts and so they imprisoned him and two of his followers. After a long imprisonment the roman authorities attempted several times to end his life, including feeding him to a ravenous beast, but upon making the sign of the cross the beast was made meek.
A last ditch attempt was made to execute the saint. He was beheaded on Montmartre (Hill of the Martyrs), today a lively district of Paris, but an unfazed St. Denis picked up his head and walked several miles while singning religious songs with his followers. The site he chose to lay became an important place of worship.
History of the City
The history of the royal city of St. Denis is synonymous with the famous cathedral found in its center but the history of the settlement goes back further. A Gallo-Roman settlement called Catulliacum existed here in antiquity. The beheading of St. Denis in 250A.D would have the city renamed in his honor and a small chapel was built in 475A.D. King Dagobert I would begin the royal association with St. Denis by renovating this chapel into an Abbey and Monastery and ensured that this would be the place of burial for the French kings. Furthermore he bolstered the privileges of the Monastery allowing them independence from the crown and to hold a yearly market, this in turn would allowed them to collect revenue for church maintenance. This allowed St. Denis to become an important medieval settlement and directly led to the construction of the First Gothic Cathedral in Europe in 1144, on the grounds of the old abbey. This is the first act of patronage that would help cement the city as a royal one.
The town was hit hard during the chaos of the 100 years war and later the reformation movement. During the later the Battle of Saint-Denis was fought between Catholics and protestants and the future king Henry IV was converted to Catholicism in the church. Under royalist rule the town became a haven for textile manufacturing.
The French Revolution was also difficult for the city. The radicalists (with no regards for history) renamed the city Franciade and looted the necropolis spreading objects from the tombs all over the world. The monarchy was breiftly restored and the last king, Louis XVIII would be buried here. With the end of the monarchy the town would lose royal status and continue to decline. It was absorbed by Paris in 1860 and became a center for heavy industry. Not surprisingly the working class city became a haven for socialist and communists and was named “La Ville Rouge” (the red city). The fall of heavy industry after the World Wars turned it into one of the suburban ghettos of Paris, a surprise to me as it is so close to the Stade de France. St. Denis is considered by many in Paris to be a dangerous area with islamists staging attacks throughout the city in 2015.
What to Do in St. Denis
After being dropped off in St. Denis I realized just how odd the place really is. I walked towards the basilica by way of Place du Caquet road, a narrow and claustrophobic passageway surrounded by menacing multi-story concrete buildings on all sides. I could not imagine that i would see a place so intimidating outside of a dictatorship.
Walking towards the basilica I came by a large public market with tents set up but nothing that I would ever want to buy. Further along you will wind the beautiful old city hall building (la Mairie) along with its less than beautiful glass and stone extensions. On the other side of the street you will find a cafe called Le Khédive. Since I had time to kill before my flight I had a bite to eat here.
In the same pedestrianized square as the city hall you will find the beautiful Gothic Basilica. This church may look small compared to other cathedrals but you have to remember it is the first building of its kind. Architecturally the building harkens back earlier Romanesque churches while paving the way for the wave of Gothic cathedrals that would follow. The cathedral was reconstructed on the site of the old abbey, reusing much of the original buildings. A new style was introduced, Gothic Architecture, influenced by the followings of Pseudo-Dionysius. Gothic in contrast to Romanesque was meant to introduce light by way of vaulted ceilings, supported on high thin walls supported by flying buttresses.
The entryway borrows heavily from Romanesque architecture, this is evident when looking at cathedral portal where there are three doors, the larger one located in the center, reflecting a roman archway. The side of the cathedral have classic Gothic elements like flying buttresses and circular stained glass panes. If you are looking at the front of the church, you will notice a lack of symmetry present in the upper levels as there is only one belfry. The second belfry was removed after damage was cause by a storm event in the 19th century and never reassembled. Plans are in the works to reconstruct it. As mentioned earlier, the church crypt was the burial ground for almost every french king.
The initial push for this new cathedral came from abbot Suger, a personal friend of the king. The old abbey was packed too tight during feast days and the crush loads were a threat to the relics and the safety of the people. As such he wanted to build a new church to show glory to St. Denis and allow his people to access his relics with dignity. At the time the project was seen as a folly and a project of personal vanity by other religious critics. If you look closely at the carvings and stained glass windows you can see that Suger added himself into many scenes, including one with the twelve disciples. Maybe the critics were right after all!
Walking around the cathedral, you can tell that the area has had several attempts at urban renewal, but even newer condos show signs of delapitation. When trying to find a non-existent conciergerie to drop off my bags, I wandered into the Mairie to ask. It seem like all they do is hand out welfare check or offer social services and it was sad to see how far the working class neighborhood had fallen.
Another building of importance that can be found in St. Denis is the Maison d’éducation de la Légion d’honneur. This school was set up by Napoleon to educate the daughter and granddaughters of men who had won the Légion d’honneur. Admittance is still by hereditary right. Behind the building you will find a large park.
Conclusion
I would not exactly recommend a trip to St. Denis, unless you are a history fanatic. If planning to visit the Parisian suburb, make this a short visit to the cathedral by metro as overall St. Denis is a disappointing daytrip and not worth more than a few house of your time. Next time, when confronted with a layover of this magnitude, I will just go to the location of St. Denis’s actual execution, Montmartre. It would be a much more pleasant afternoon.
