Editing Basilica of Saint-Denis (section)

===The Carolingian church===
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File:Saint-Denis (93), basilique, crypte d'Hilduin 1.jpg|Walls of the crypt built by the Abbot [[Hilduin of Saint-Denis|Hilduin]] (9th century)
File:Underground crypt @ Basilique de Saint-Denis @ Saint-Denis (30624057081).jpg|Capital of a column in the Carolingian crypt
File:Oldest tombs @ Underground crypt @ Basilique de Saint-Denis @ Saint-Denis (30624049031).jpg|Earliest sarcophagi in the crypt
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During his second coronation at Saint-Denis, King [[Pepin the Short]] made a vow to rebuild the old abbey.{{Sfn|Plagnieux|1998|p=3}} The first church mentioned in the chronicles was begun in 754 and completed under [[Charlemagne]], who was present at its consecration in 775. By 832 the Abbey had been granted a remunerative whaling concession on the [[Cotentin Peninsula]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=DeSmet|first1=W.M.A.|title=Mammals in the Seas: General papers and large cetaceans. Whaling During the Middle Ages.|date=1981|publisher=Food & Agriculture Org. |isbn=978-9251005132|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BKaUpfo2XCUC&q=An+early+17th+century+record+of+the+California+gray+whale+in+Icelandic+waters}}</ref>

According to one of the Abbey's many [[Myth of origins|foundation myths]] a leper, who was sleeping in the nearly completed church the night before its planned consecration, witnessed a blaze of light from which Christ, accompanied by St Denis and a host of angels, emerged to conduct the consecration ceremony himself. Before leaving, Christ healed the leper, tearing off his diseased skin to reveal a perfect complexion underneath. A mis-shapen patch on a marble column was said to be the leper's former skin, which stuck there when Christ discarded it. Having been consecrated by Christ, the fabric of the building was itself regarded as sacred.<ref>Lindy Grant, ''Abbot Suger of St.Denis: Church and State in Early Twelfth century France'', Longman, 1998</ref>

Most of what is now known about the Carolingian church at St Denis resulted from a lengthy series of excavations begun under the American art historian [[Sumner McKnight Crosby]] in 1937.<ref>Sumner McKnight Crosby, ''The Royal Abbey of Saint-Denis from Its Beginnings to the Death of Suger, 475–1151'', Yale University Press, 1987</ref> The structure altogether was about eighty meters long, with an imposing [[Westwork|facade]], a nave divided into three sections by two rows of marble columns, a transept, and [[apse]] and at the east end. During important religious celebrations, the interior of the church was lit with 1250 lamps.{{sfn|Plagnieux|1998|p=4}} Beneath the apse, in imitation of St. Peter's in Rome, a crypt was constructed, with a Confession, or martyr's chapel, in the center. Inside this was a platform on which the sarcophagus of Denis was displayed, with those of his companions Rusticus and Eleutherus on either side. Around the platform was a corridor where pilgrims could circulate, and bays with windows. Traces of painted decoration of this original crypt can be seen in some of the bays.{{sfn|Plagnieux|1998|p=4}}

The crypt was not large enough for the growing number of pilgrims who came, so in about 832 the abbot Hilduin built a second crypt, to the west of the first, and a small new chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary was constructed next to the apse. The new crypt was extensively rebuilt under Suger in the 12th century.{{sfn|Plagnieux|1998|p=4}}