Suger

Consequently people like Abbot Suger believed that created light was the best created symbol by which to see and know God, and so he proclaimed: “Bright is the noble edifice that is pervaded by the new light”.

The Theology and Metaphysics of the Gothic Cathedral - part 3 2009

Suger, a dumpy little man who was born a peasant but somehow rose to become an abbot at a time when "social mobility did not exist in France," is just the first of many fascinating historical characters we meet in "Paris to the Past."

Sentimental Journeys Tobias Grey 2011

The second, more generous attitude is represented by Suger, the 12th-century abbot of St. Denis who served as regent for Louis VI while the king was away on a crusade.

Hidden Treasure Henrik Bering 2011

It was here, she notes, that Abbot Suger, subsequently dubbed the father of the Gothic Cathedral, "first pierced the solid stone walls of the dark ages to create the world's first rose window so that jewelled light would shine on and glorify the king Louis VI he wished to raise above all men."

Sentimental Journeys Tobias Grey 2011

To inspire his parishioners, Suger built a magnificent church in the emerging Gothic style.

Hidden Treasure Henrik Bering 2011

A popularizer like Suger is someone who wishes to share his own enthusiasm and refined judgment with others and does so through charm and encouragement.

Hidden Treasure Henrik Bering 2011

This fundamental idea, which permeates the practice of medieval art, is what lead Abbot Suger to say that “the dull mind rises to truth through that which is material”, thus giving a strong symbolic, even ‘sacramental’ sense, to the arts.

The Theology and Metaphysics of the Gothic Cathedral - part 1 2009

Abbot Suger considered the beauty of this coloured light to have transported him to “some strange region of the universe which neither exists entirely in the slime of the earth nor entirely in the purity of Heaven”.

The Theology and Metaphysics of the Gothic Cathedral - part 4 & conclusion 2009

Abbot Suger, who was responsible for what is often recognized as the first Gothic church, said that his abbey church of St Denis transformed “that which is material to that which is immaterial”.

The Theology and Metaphysics of the Gothic Cathedral - part 1 2009

Suger, a dumpy little man who was born a peasant but somehow rose to become an abbot at a time when "social mobility did not exist in France," is just the first of many fascinating historical characters we meet in "Paris to the Past."

Sentimental Journeys Tobias Grey 2011