Basilique, Saint-Denis No.6


: Basilique Saint-Denis; France, saint-denis; 1136?-44 (Choir)

  • Ambulatory and radiating chapels.
  • The double ambulatory and seven radiating chapels were constructed by Abbot Suger.
  • Ambulatory and radiating chapels.
  • Each radiating chapel is lit by two large windows whose width take whole span of the piers and they are shallow so that the stained glasses seem a series of diaphanous wall. Abbot Suger said, "lifting the mind from the material to the spiritual."
    Here appeared the House of God Suger imagined and Gothic architecture started.
  • Comparing with Japanese tradition, the Akari-Shoji which is a window or door using paper instead of glass and bring lights and shadows into the room symbolize the nature.
Photo: Yasuhiko Nishigaki

 
[No.1] West facade [No.5] Choir
[No.2] Nave [No.6] Ambulatory
[No.3] Nave: Ceiling [No.7] Ambulatory: Ceiling
[No.4] Nave: Stained glass [No.8] Entrance


Information provided by:
http://web.kyoto-inet.or.jp/org/orion/eng/hst/gothic/sandeni5.html