Sainte-Chapelle
| In the year 1238
Baudouin, a French nobleman and Emperor of Constantinople, was out on
the First Crusade and flat broke. To get money he sold the only object
of real value he owned, which happened to be the Crown of Thorns. The pawnbroker sold the crown to King Louis IX of France, who had this chapel built to house it. The Chapel and the golden shrine inside were the cheapest part of the deal, costing less than half the price of the crown. The Chapel was consecrated in l348, and is one of the greatest wonders of Medieval Art. It has practically no walls, the roof being supported on slender pillars between stained-glass windows 50 feet high. Because of the windows, which give you the impression of being inside a coloured thirteenth-century goldfish bowl, this is the most beautiful place in Paris. Nearly all of the glass is original, displaying l,134 different scenes from the Bible. Beneath the Chapel is another, dark and low, for the palace servants. After building this, Louis IX was made a Saint, and serve him right. |
