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sainte Sainte-Chapelle A Small chapel in Paris SAINTE-CHAPELLE Walking into this tiny chapel is like entering a gigantic jewel box. Yet that hardly suffices. Nor will it do to call it "a light show." This is one of the best attractions in Paris. Go when the sun is shining and you'll need no one else's words to describe the remarkable effects of natural light on Sainte-Chapelle's exquisite stained-glass windows. Just make sure you find the place. If it weren't for the chapel's 74m (243-ft.) spire, the law courts here would almost swallow it up. Begun in 1246, the bi-level chapel was built to house relics of the True Cross, including the Crown of Thorns acquired by St. Louis (the Crusader king, Louis IX) from the emperor of Constantinople. Make sure to take a thorough look at both levels. The lower chapel used by the servants has wonderful flying buttresses and ornately painted fleur-de-lis designs. Follow that up with a visit to the upper chapel where you'll really be blown away. This once royal church is one of the greatest achievements of Gothic art. Viewed on a bright day 15 stained glass windows literally seem to explode with light and give the impression that the building itself is supported not by stone but merely by light and colour. Within the windows Old and New Testament designs are depicted as per the orders of the kings who began their construction. The 1,134 scenes depict the Christian story from the Garden of Eden through the Apocalypse; you read them from bottom to top and from left to right. |