stressing: There are few—if any other—buildings in the history of architecture
that so clearly initiated a new style of architecture, and Suger knew it.
The Innovations in St. Denis
In 1136, he began by rebuilding the narthex, an almost autonomous foyer
for the church. In overall form and details, Suger's narthex building was not
substantially different from many others that had been built in northern
France. It is a two-storied, rectangular block surmounted by two towers, only
one of which still exists. The main block is surmounted by battlements derived
from military architecture making it, symbolically, a triumphal entry
gate for a castle and declaring that the church is the castle of God ("A mighty7
fortress is our God") and not incidentally of the king, God's representative
on earth.
If the idea of a narthex building was not new, the great circular rose window
that lights the chapel on the second story of the narthex was the first of
its kind. It would be echoed in most subsequent large Gothic churches. The
general scheme of the three entry doors and their sculpture is also innovative
and would, in outline, inspire the portals of many other churches, such
as the cathedrals of Notre Dame in Paris and Chartres. The sculpture above
the center door represents the Last Judgment, with Abbot Suger (naturally)
at the feet of Jesus. The sculpture above the south door represents St. Denis
taking communion, and above the north door St. Denis being beheaded. On
the columns next to the doors were symbols reinforcing the royal connection
with the abbey.
Less apparently new than these features, though of much greater architectural
consequence, was the system of pointed ribs that the architect used
to build the vaults of the narthex. Suger's architect, who used the system
somewhat tentatively in the narthex, fully realized what it made possible
when he rebuilt the opposite end of the church almost immediately after the
narthex was finished. The dark Carolingian nave was not rebuilt for another
hundred years.