The Royal Abbey of Saint-Denis in the Time of Abbot Suger (1122-1151)

The French Revolution not only deposed the monarchy, putting an end to the ancien regime,” but its vengeful fires destroyed thousands of chateaux, the symbolsand residencesof the upper classes. The anticlerical wrath of the Revolutionists also brought about the devastation of many churches: sculptured facades were defaced, stained-glass windows shattered, and treasuries ransacked and their contents scattered. Ironically, it was these outrageous acts of the populace and the neglect of the Commune thatalmost two hundred years laterwould enable The Metropolitan Museum of Art to mount two exhibitions in as many years, presenting the Museum’s visitors with major aspects of two of the most glorious monuments of the Gothic period, the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris and the Royal Abbey of Saint-Denis (designated a cathedral in 1966). [This book was originally published in 1981 and has gone out of print. This edition is a print-on-demand version of the original book.]