Sainte-Chapelle

Sainte-Chapelle rises within the medieval Palais de la Cité on Paris’s Île de la Cité, as a royal chapel in the Rayonnant Gothic style. Its two levels served different communities: the upper chapel held sacred relics for the royal family and guests, while the lower chapel received courtiers, servants, and soldiers.

King Louis IX commissioned the building to shelter Passion relics, including Christ’s Crown of Thorns, and consecration followed in 1248. The French Revolution brought severe damage, turning the chapel into a grain storehouse and destroying its spire, sculptures, and royal emblems. Nineteenth-century restoration returned much of its medieval character, while nearly two-thirds of the stained glass remains original.

The chapel now preserves one of the world’s most extensive collections of thirteenth-century stained glass, with vivid scenes rising across its tall windows. A major conservation programme began in 2008, and restoration of the west façade’s flamboyant rose window finished in 2015.