La Sainte Chapelle description and photos - France: Paris (Topic)

La Sainte Chapelle description and photos - France: Paris. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is La Sainte Chapelle.

Photo and description

This chapel was commissioned by Saint Louis IX to store the relic - the Crown of Thorns. The king bought this relic in Venice in 1239, where it was brought from Constantinople. The chapel's creator Pierre de Montero decided to build two churches, one above the other, and both were consecrated in 1248. The lower church serves as a kind of high foundation for the entire structure, colossal windows rise up from it, ending in lancet turrets.

The steep sloping roof is decorated with a light, graceful marble balustrade, and this exquisite element of architecture is crowned with an openwork spire directed upwards 75 meters high. On both sides of the facade there are two more towers with spiers; in front of the facade there is a portico, above which there is a large rosette window dating from the 15th century with scenes from the Apocalypse.

The lower church, small in height - about 7 meters, consists of three naves, but the main nave seems huge compared to the side ones. Decorative trefoil-shaped arches supported by graceful columns run along the walls. The apse at the back of the church is polygonal. This part of the chapel was intended for servants, while the splendid upper chapel, which could be accessed by a narrow spiral staircase, was visited by members of the royal family and their courtiers.

The upper church has one huge nave 17 meters wide and a height of 20.5 meters. The whole church is surrounded by a high plinth with openwork marble arcades, interrupted by deep niches. In the third aisle there are two niches intended for the king of his family. Each pilaster has statues of the apostles dating from the 14th century. The design is maximally lightweight, in order to leave more space for 15 huge stained glass windows with a height of about 15 meters, which date from the 13th century, contain 1134 scenes and cover an area of about 600 square meters. Bright flaming biblical and evangelical stories are represented on them.

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Topic: La Sainte Chapelle description and photos - France: Paris.