Sainte-Chapelle
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Sainte-Chapelle, royal chapel in the Gothic Rayonnant style in the Île de la Cité in Paris, France. Gothic architecture is often most notable for its size and grandeur, but Sainte-Chapelle is a magnificent exception. Though it is smaller than the great cathedrals of northern France, its jewel-like perfection makes it one of the finest examples of the style.
Sainte-Chapelle (Holy Chapel) was commissioned by Louis IX, also known as St. Louis, who was undoubtedly France’s most pious king. He went on Crusades and purchased sacred relics for exorbitant prices. His chapel was specifically designed with the latter in mind. The building, consecrated in 1248, was constructed on two levels: The lower chapel was intended for the staff of the royal palace, whereas the upper chapel housed Louis’s most precious relics—the Crown of Thorns and a fragment of the True Cross, among other relics. Fittingly, this chamber resembled a shrine. There were so many windows— illustrating more than 1,100 biblical scenes—that the walls themselves appeared to be made of glass. One of the windows shows the king receiving the relics.
Later generations did not share Louis’s extreme religious fervour and, gradually, the upper chamber fell into disuse. It was sacked during the French Revolution in 1789, after which it was used as a storehouse for grain. In the early 19th century it was turned into a legal archive, with enormous filing cabinets blocking the stained glass from view. By that time, the chapel was in urgent need of restoration.
In the 1830s public pressure, supported by scholars and writers including Victor Hugo, led to a program of renovation beginning in 1840.Various architects led the project, beginning with Félix Duban and including Jean-Baptiste Lassus and Émile Boeswillwald, as well as Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc. The spire, which had been removed during the Revolution, was rebuilt to a new design. The relics were cleared away during the Revolution as well; the Crown of Thorns is now in Notre-Dame de Paris. A painstaking restoration of the stained-glass windows was begun in 2008 and completed in 2015. Today, the chapel is open to tours and is mainly used for concerts of classical music.