Why not visit the Basilica of Saint Denis?
With Notre Dame still closed as restoration work continues as a result of the devastating fire of April 15, 2019, the Gothic church of choice to visit in Paris is surely St. Denis . It's easy to get to, located just north of the Paris city limits and very close to a metro stop. Not only is St. Denis a splendid example of 13 th century Gothic architecture, it also has renown as the place where the Gothic style began in the 1140s (as every student of art and architectural history knows). The church has even more to offer. Because it served as the funerary church for French royalty, it houses an amazing collection of royal funerary monuments dating from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance. During the French Revolution, these monuments were saved from the destructive fury of the mobs. Surely such a place would be filled with tourists! Yet when we visited in March, the only groups to be seen were local children, teenagers and younger, given a tour through French histor...