the splendid new chancel of the abbey church of St.
Denis, with its twenty-four altars, was consecrated. The ceremony was
so important that King Louis VII of France, his wife, Queen Eleanor of
Aquitaine, twenty-three bishops, the archbishop of Bourges, the abbot of St.
Denis, and many other notables were present. For one of the few times in
history, an entirely new approach to architecture, the Gothic, had been invented
at single stroke and in a single building. Those who attended the service
recognized just how brilliant and new the chancel was, and many, almost
immediately, began rebuilding the churches for which they were responsible
in the new style. It was based on a system of building that permitted unprecedented
drama and lighting effects in a church. Since the building was
supported on freestanding columns instead of thick walls, the exterior walls