City (pop., 1999: 85,832), northern France.
Now a suburb of Paris , until the mid-19th century it was only a small township centred on its famous abbey church, which had been the burial place of French kings. King Dagobert I founded the abbey in the 7th century and built it over the tomb of St. Denis , patron saint of France. Abbot Suger built there a new basilica which later transformed Western architecture from the Romanesque to the Gothic ; most late-12th-century French cathedrals, including Chartres , are based on that of Saint-Denis. Remarkable tombs found there include those of Louis XII , Anne of Brittany , Henry II , and Catherine de Médicis. The city is now an industrial centre.