Sainte-Chapelle, 1248

Later that same day, I toured the 13th Century Sainte-Chapelle, also on the Île de la Cité. This amazing little chapel (!) was built for the sole purpose of housing Christ’s Crown of Thorns.

France’s King Louis IX, 1226-1270, took two crusades to the Holy Land. He acquired the Crown of Thorns from his cousin, the emperor of Constantinople, Baldwin II, for 13,134 piece of gold.

The Crown has been verified to be at least 1,600 years old.

This tiny, but elaborate Gothic chapel is now best known for its stained glass windows, which, when read left to right, tell the story of the Old and New Testament in 1,130 illustrations.

The colors are not to be believed, and should be seen on a sunny day. Those days are hard to come buy in December/January in Paris, but I got lucky today.

I’ll let the photos tell the rest of the story.