Paris - Ste. Chapelle - 1er

Plate XXV - Ste. Chapelle

Hard to photograph, and do any justice, using this camera I may have to resort to the proverbial thousand words on Sainte Chapelle, the holy chapel found within the walls of the Palace of Justice. Built by Louis IX between 1243 and 1248 as a reliquary to house Christ’s crown of thorns it remains one of Frances greatest monuments. The architect is unrecorded though often assumed to be Pierre de Montreuil. Sainte Chapelle represents the pinnacle of the Gothic Rayonant style of architecture where not only does the tracery of the glass work contribute to design complexity, but the interplay between glass and stone is a notable feature. The work in Sainte Chapelle was to inspire many later church architects - some influence can be noted on the transept windows of Notre Dame. Severe damage was inflicted on the chapel during the French Revolution, and much of what is seen today is the result of superb and meticulous restoration carried out in 1855, adhering strictly to surviving original documentation.

The 15 windows of the upper chapel of Sainte Chapelle rank amongst the most impressive in the world. This chamber, once reserved for Royal use, is built of slender trellised columns filled by almost continuous curtains, some 15 metres in height, of the most exquisite stained glass, comparable only to the work I later saw in Chartres Cathedral. Dating from the early 13th century the windows too were extensively damaged during a number of conflicts in the city, most notably during the Revolution, but even so it is estimated that some two thirds of the glass seen today is original, while the remainder has been sympathetically restored.

I was fortunate on a later visit to France to watch restoration work being done on the windows of Chartres Cathedral. The painstaking attention to detail exercised by the glass artists commissioned to do this work is beyond belief. It is encouraging to know that this level of artisan craftsmanship still exists today. I fear it will not for much longer – I think the youngest of the restoration team was over fifty.

Additional precious relics of Christ’s Passion had been added to the reliquary over the centuries, the remnants of these are now housed in the Treasury of Notre Dame de Paris. There are two places I have found in my life that inspire me to use the adjective ‘celestial’ when describing them - Mont St. Michel is the one … and Sainte Chapelle is the other.

* Included here in the 1st arrondissement due to its proximity to the Conciergerie - some guides show the location as 4^th arrondissement.