St. Denis and the History of France

The basilica of Saint Denis on the northern fringe of modern Paris was, for a long stretch of French history, the burial place for all the kings and queens of France, or what passed for France before there was a France. Anyway, the burials here reportedly go back to the Sixth Century, or some 1,500 years ago.

Not willing to leave well enough alone, the Revolutionaries of 1789 were bound and determined to change things forever and during one of the more turbulent moments of that period mobs stormed into the basilica and overturned virtually all of the sarcophagi that had been lying in the quiet darkness of the crypt beneath the church for hundreds of years.

After the commotion (meaning the revolution of course) was over and they tried to put everyone back together again, it quickly became apparent that wasn't going to happen. All the bones were walled up in the crypt and the effigies of French history were put out on display for us to see (for a modest fee). They are all well-marked, though, just in case you were wondering. But not here.