St Denis (Sang De-nee'), a town in the French dep. of Seine, 4 miles N. of Paris, within the line of forts forming the outer defences of the city. It manufactures calicoes, flour, chemicals, machinery, white-lead, etc, and has a notable fair. The chapel raised above the tomb of St Denis, the patron saint of France, was replaced in the 7th century by an abbey, built by Dago-bert I., who was buried in its church, which thereafter became the mausoleum of the kings of France. The existing abbey church was begun in 1137, and skilfully restored by Viollet-le-Duc from 1848 onwards, though it suffered again in the German bombardment of 1871. The most magnificent of the royal tombs are those of Louis XII. and his queen, Anne of Brittany, of Francis I. and Claude, and of Henry II. and Catharine de' Medici. During the Revolution, in 1793, the royal tombs were sacrilegiously rifled and demolished. Napoleon converted the abbey into a school for the daughters of officers of the legion of honour. Pop. (1872) 31,850; (1901) 58,871. St Denis, the capital of Reunion (q.v.).