Basilica of Saint-Denis

In 2023, a major new restoration campaign focused on the basilica's ambulatory and its stained glass windows, which are among the oldest medieval stained glass windows preserved in France.

Largely preserved until the Revolution, these then underwent a turbulent history, marked by displacement, loss, and restoration. The project involved both the restoration of the interior facings of the ambulatory and radiating chapels, which were repointed and then unified with a traditional whitewash, restoring the clarity and coherence of the Gothic space, and the restoration of the stained glass windows. The 19th-century panels were restored, while the medieval panels, removed in 1997 for conservation reasons, were replaced by copies made using traditional techniques of colored and painted glass assembled with lead. As the copying of ancient stained glass windows requires specific expertise, a two-stage consultation process was used to select the workshop best able to accurately reproduce these ancient models, from the choice of glass to the grisaille design.