Background
Saint Denis is a patron saint of France and, according to legend, was the first bishop of Paris. Legend relates that he was decapitated on the Hill of Montmartre and subsequently carried his head to the site of the current church, indicating where he wanted to be buried.
According to related legends, a martyrium was erected on the site of his grave. The high altars of the churches later built on the site were said to stand immediately above the martyrium of St. Denis. Archeological excavations have revealed a very large pit immediately under the altar, rather than a tomb; in the pit were animal bones and Roman pot fragments, but no human body. The pit is on public display in the crypt.
Read more about this topic: Basilica Of St Denis
Famous quotes containing the word background:
“... every experience in life enriches one’s background and should teach valuable lessons.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)
“Pilate with his question “What is truth?” is gladly trotted out these days as an advocate of Christ, so as to arouse the suspicion that everything known and knowable is an illusion and to erect the cross upon that gruesome background of the impossibility of knowledge.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)