First reconstruction was in the 1130s to replace the existing church. Building began for a new west facade and narthex in 1135. In the 1140s, reconstruction of the choir included stain glass windows. Abbot Suger supervised and oversaw construction to the church and heavily valued precious materials, magnificence and fine workmanship. This led to a team of international group of masons, sculptors, metalworkers, and glass painters to come together to build a highly expensive piece of architecture. To do this, Abbot Suger forged documents to increase landholdings and used the annual revenue from the town's inhabitants to bring to life his magnificent ideas. 

The new facade and narthex were attached to the original old church and was built in the new choir in 1135. Later it would be consecrated on June 14, 1144. This may have been the first Gothic style building. 

There were pointed arches and rib groined vaults with large, non-load-bearing walls of stained glass windows to create an open space of uninterrupted light. In the choir, the ambulatory was open space surrounded by seven chapels. The combination of the rib vaults and webbing covering the pointed arches, pressed the weight of the thrust downward towards the ground through the piers they rested on. 

The Flight into Egypt was one of the stained glass windows representing Jesus's childhood in the abbey church. It was painted with vitreous enamel on colored pieces of glass showing the Virgin reaching to grab a date from the palm tree. The tree was bent to young Jesus's command to help the Virgin. The faces are clear and elegant along with the foliage and clothing. To make a stained glass window, sand and ash need to come to a molten state using intense heat, then stain it with color. To do so, metallic oxides had to be added. Once fully heated to an intense temperature, the glass was blown and flattened to the desired width and size. The sheets of glass were cut according to the drawing it was placed on using a hot iron to accurately cut the glass to a figural scene or ornamental passage. An iron tool was used to chip to a more accurate shape. The vitreous paint was thickened or diluted to either block the light or create facial expressions or drapery folds. To fuse the paint to the glass, it had to be fired in the kiln. Strips of lead held the pieces together after being puzzled together in a narrative form.