Alejandra Badillo - .The Sainte Chapelle  is the most important medieval monument in Paris after Notre-Dame Cathedral. It was built in the thirteenth century to house the Crown of Thorns which Saint Louis (Louis IX) had bought from Baudoin II, Emperor of  Constantinople. Among other relics he purchased were fragments of the True Cross, nails from the Crucifixion, the spear that had pierced Christ and drops of Christ’s blood. To house these most precious objects St Louis ordered a chapel to be built in the Palace courtyard. The chapel was consecrated in 1248.

 

The exterior gives an overall impression of lightness with its 50 foot high windows and the absence of any flying buttresses. It seems almost impossible that the building can rise so high without any visible means of support – in fact the whole structure is cleverly supported by internal buttressing.

 

Today there are no relics inside ,they were destroyed during the Revolution only a fragment survives of the Crown of Thorns and that is kept in the Treasury of Notre-Dame Cathedral  and brought out  for public display at Easter. But the glory of the Sainte Chapelle are its ensemble of thirteenth century stained glass windows depicting scenes from the Old and New Testaments. Out of 1134 scenes 720 are from the thirteenth century.

 

During the Revolution the Sainte Chapelle was used successively as a flour warehouse, a revolutionary club and as an archive for the Law Courts. It even had a ‘For Sale’ sign until 1837 when it was decided to restore it.