You must view Sainte-Chapelle
on a sunny day. Its 15 perfect stained-glass windows, soaring 50
feet high to a star-studded vaulted ceiling, will take your breath
away. You'll think you've stepped into a kaleidoscope. Louis
IX, the only French king to become a saint, had the Sainte-Chapelle
built as a shrine to house the relics of Christ's crucifixion, including
the Crown of Thorns that Louis bought from the emperor of
Constantinople. Building the Sainte-Chapelle cost Louis less than
buying the hideously expensive Crown of Thorns, which now resides in the
vault at Notre-Dame.
Built between 1246
and 1248, Sainte-Chapelle consists of two chapels one on top of the
other. Palace servants worshiped at the chapelle basse (lower
chapel); it is ornamented with fleur-de-lis designs. The chapelle
haute (upper chapel) is considered one of the highest achievements
of Gothic art. The stained-glass windows' 1,134 scenes trace
the biblical story form the Garden of Eden to the
Apocalypse.
