The Sainte-Chapelle (Holy Chapel) is a royal chapel located on the Île de la Cité in the middle of the River Seine in Paris. Built during the 13th century in the Gothic style, the chapel was part of the medieval Palais de la Cité, the main residence of the Kings of France until the 14th century.
Context
The Sainte-Chapelle was inspired by the earlier Carolingian royal chapels, notably the two-storey Palatine Chapel of Charlemagne, built in 782–805 at his palace in Aachen, which served as the Emperor's oratory. In 1238 Louis IX had already built an earlier royal chapel attached to the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. It had only one level; but its plan was adapted, on a much grander scale, for the Sainte-Chapelle.
In addition to serving as a place of worship, the Sainte-Chapelle played an important role in the political and cultural ambitions of King Louis and his successors. With the imperial throne at Constantinople occupied by a mere Count of Flanders and with the Holy Roman Empire in uneasy disarray, Louis' artistic and architectural patronage helped to position him as the central monarch of western Christendom. The Sainte-Chapelle fit into a long tradition of prestigious palace chapels: just as the Emperor could pass privately from his palace into the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, so too could Louis now pass directly from his palace into the Sainte-Chapelle. Moreover, the chapel's similarities to Charlemagne's chapel at Aachen allowed Louis to present himself as a worthy successor to the first Holy Roman Emperor.
Stained glass
The most famous features of the chapel, among the finest of their type in the world, are the fifteen great stained-glass windows in the nave and apse of the upper chapel, which date from the mid-13th century, as well as the later rose window (put in place in the 15th century). The stone wall surface is reduced to little more than a delicate framework. The thousands of small pieces of glass turn the walls into great screens of coloured light, largely deep blues and reds, which gradually change in intensity from hour to hour.
Most of the windows were put into place between 1242 and 1248. The names of the glass artists are unknown, but the art historian Louis Grodecki identified what appear to be three different ateliers with different styles. The windows in the apse and most of the windows on the north wall of the nave are made by one workshop. These works are known for supple forms and costumes, with simplified features. The second workshop, named by Grodecki as Master of the Ezekiel window, made the Ezekiel and Daniel windows, as well as the window of the Kings. That work is characterized by elongated forms, and more elaborate and angular draperies. The third artist or workshop is called the Master of Judith and Esther, for the distinct style of those windows, as well as the window of Job.
The relics and the reliquary
The principal relics for which the chapel was built were the crown of thorns, believed to have been worn by Christ during his Passion, and a small piece of the cross on which he was crucified. These were found in Constantinople, which had been captured in the Fourth Crusade in 1204, and was then ruled by Latin Emperor Baudouin II of Cortenay. Baudouin agreed to sell the crown for 135,000 livres, which went primarily to Venetian bankers, to whom he had mortgaged the crown to pay for the defence of the city. The purchase supplied money to the embattled Latin emperor and helped discharge the Venetian bankers’ claim on the mortgaged relic. For Louis, acquiring the crown also displayed personal devotion and enhanced the prestige of the French monarchy. The crown arrived in August 1239 and was placed in the earlier royal chapel of St. Nicholas, near the palace.
Two years later, he made an additional purchase from Baudouin of a piece of the True Cross and other relics related to the Passion, which were brought to Paris in September 1241. Thereafter, on each Holy Friday, the day of the Crucifixion, he conducted a solemn ceremony at Sainte-Chapelle, in which the relic was brought out and displayed to the faithful.