La Sainte-Chapelle is the only surviving building of the Capetian royal palace on the Île de la Cité in the heart of Paris. It was commissioned by King Louis IX of France to house hiscollection of Passion Relics, including the Crown of Thorns - one of the most important relics inmedieval Christendom. Begun sometime after 1239 and consecrated on the 26th of April 1248,the Sainte-Chapelle is considered among the highest achievements of the Rayonnant period ofGothic architecture. Although damaged during the French revolution and heavily restored in the19th century, it retains one of the most extensive in-situ collections of 13th century stained glassanywhere in the world.

The royal chapel is a prime example of the phase of Gothic architecture called"Rayonnant", marked by its sense of weightlessness and strong vertical emphasis. It standssquarely upon a lower chapel, which served as parish church for all the inhabitants of the palace,which was the seat of government .The king was later recognized as a saint by the CatholicChurch.

The contemporary visitor entering the courtyard of the Royal Palace would have beenmet by the sight of a grand ceremonial staircase (the Grands Degres) to their right and the northflank and eastern apse of the Sainte-Chapelle to their left. The chapel exterior shows many of thetypical characteristics of Rayonnant architecture - deep buttresses surmounted by pinnacles,crocketted gables around the roof-line and vast windows subdivided by bar tracery. The internaldivision into upper and lower chapels is clearly marked on the outside by a string-course, thelower walls pierced by smaller windows with a distinctive spherical triangle shape. Despite itsdecoration, the exterior is relatively simple and austere, devoid of flying buttresses or majorsculpture and giving little hint of the richness within.

 No designer-builder is named in the archives concerned with the construction. In the19th century it was assumed (as with so many buildings of medieval Paris) to be the work of themaster mason Pierre de Montreuil, who worked on the remodeling of the Royal Abbey of Saint-Denis and completed the south transept façade of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Modernscholarship rejects this attribution in favor of Jean de Chelles or Thomas de Cormont, whileRobert Branner saw in the design the hand of an unidentified master mason from Amiens.The Sainte-Chapelle's most obvious architectural precursors include the apsidal chapels ofAmiens Cathedral, which it resembles in its general form, and the Bishop's Chapel (c.1180's) of Noyon Cathedral, from which it borrowed the two-story design. As has often been arguedhowever the major influence on its overall design seems to have come from contemporarymetalwork, particularly the precious shrines and reliquaries made by Mosan goldsmiths.

The Parisian palatine chapel, built to house a reliquary, was itself like a preciousreliquary turned inside out (with the richest decoration on the inside). Although the interior isdominated by the stained glass (see below), every inch of the remaining wall surface and thevault was also richly polychromed and decorated. Analysis of remaining paint fragments revealthat the original colors were much brighter than those favored by the 19th century restorers andwould have been closer to the colors of the stained glass. The quatrefoils of the dado arcade were painted with scenes of saints and martyrs and inset with painted and gilded glass, emulatingLimoges enamels, while rich textiles hangings added to the richness of the interior Above thedado level, mounted on the clustered shafts that separate the great windows, are 12 larger thanlife-sized sculpted stone figures representing the 12 Apostles (six of these are replicas - thedamaged originals are now in the Musée de Cluny). Each carries a disk marked with theconsecration crosses that were traditionally marked on the pillars of a church at its consecration. Niches on the north and south sides of the chapel are the private oratories of the king and of hismother, Blanche of Castile.

 

 

 

 

Vocabulary:

Gothic architecture - a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period.A chapel - is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship.Staircase is names for a construction designed to bridge a large vertical distance by dividing itinto smaller vertical distances, called steps.A buttress - is an architectural structure built against (a counterfort) or projecting from a wallwhich serves to support or reinforce the wall.A goldsmith -is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals.The dado - is the lower part of a wall, below the dado rail and above the skirting board.A facade or façade -is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, thefrontA reliquary- is a container for relics.

Specialized verbs:

1.  To be damaged2.  To decorate

Summary:

La Sainte-Chapelle is the only surviving building of the Capetian royal palace on the Île de laCité in the heart of Paris. It was built during the reign of King Louis IX. Although damagedduring the French revolution and heavily restored in the 19th century.  The royal chapel is a prime example of the phase of Gothic architecture called "Rayonnant", marked by its sense ofweightlessness and strong vertical emphasis. The chapel exterior shows many of the typicalcharacteristics of Rayonnant architecture - deep buttresses surmounted by pinnacles, crockettedgables around the roof-line and vast windows subdivided by bar tracery. The internal divisioninto upper and lower chapels is marked on the outside by a string-course, the lower walls pierced by smaller windows with a distinctive spherical triangle shape.

 

 No designer-builder is named inthe archives concerned with the construction. The Parisian palatine chapel, built to house areliquary, was itself like a precious reliquary turned inside out (with the richest decoration on theinside). The dado arcade were painted with scenes of saints and martyrs and inset with paintedand gilded glass, emulating Limoges enamels, while rich textiles hangings added to the richnessof the interior. Above the dado level, mounted on the clustered shafts that separate the greatwindows, are 12 larger than life-sized sculpted stone figures representing the 12 Apostles.