Consecration of Saint-Denis

June 11, 1144

Abbot Suger unveiled the rebuilt choir of his royal abbey north of Paris, filled with pointed arches, ribbed vaults, and jewel-colored stained glass that he called the new light. It was the first fully Gothic structure in Europe, and bishops from all of northern France came to stare. Suger's theological conviction that divine light could be channeled through material splendor gave the Gothic style its spiritual rationale.