The tombs of the kings were condemned to destruction,
and many (chiefly in metal) were destroyed or melted down, but not a few
were saved with difficulty by the exertions of antiquaries, and were
placed in the Museum of Monuments at Paris (now the Ecole des Beaux-Arts),
of which Alexandre Lenoir was curator. Here, they were greatly hacked
about and mutilated, in order to fit them to their new situations.
At the Restoration, however, they were sent back to St. Denis, together
with many other monuments which had no real place there; but, being housed
in the crypt, they were further clipt to suit their fresh surroundings.
Finally, when the Basilica was restored under Viollet-le-Duc, the tombs
were replaced as nearly as possible in their old positions; but several
intruders from elsewhere are still interspersed among them. Louis XVIII.
brought back the mingled bones of his ancestors from the common trench and
interred them in the crypt. As regards the tombs, again, bear in mind
these facts. All the oldest have perished; there are none here that go
back much further than the age of St.
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