France June 2016 - Sainte-Chapelle

The Holy Chapel, Sainte-Chapelle, is highly-rated by both Rick Steves and Ina Caro.    Rick Steves -- "This triumph of Gothic church architecture is a cathedral of glass like no other.   Though the inside is beautiful, the exterior is basically functional."

Sainte-Chapelle is located on the Ile de la Cite.
   
The most impressive stained glass windows I have ever seen, and on this trip, I've seen a few!
   

The Sainte-Chapelle is a royal chapel in the Gothic style, within the medieval Palais de la Cité, the residence of the Kings of France until the 14th century, on the Île de la Cité in the River Seine in Paris, France.

Construction began sometime after 1238 and the chapel was consecrated on 26 April 1248.  The Sainte-Chapelle is considered among the highest achievements of the Rayonnant period of Gothic architecture. It was commissioned by King Louis IX of France to house his collection of Passion relics, including Christ's Crown of Thorns – one of the most important relics in medieval Christendom, later hosted in the nearby Notre-Dame Cathedral until the 2019 fire, which it survived.

 
   
Along with the Conciergerie, the Sainte-Chapelle is one of the earliest surviving buildings of the Capetian royal palace on the Île de la Cité. Although damaged during the French Revolution and restored in the 19th century, it has one of the most extensive 13th-century stained glass collections anywhere in the world.
   
 
   
The chapel's rose window.
   
Magnificent!
   
The ceiling was impressive.  Ira Caro -- "Sitting in the upper portion of the royal chapel at Sainte-Chapelle, a place once reserved for Louis IX and the royal family is like sitting inside a giant inverted jewel box."
   
 
   
What it looked like back in the day:  the Sainte-Chapelle rises above the rooflines of the royal palace. Illustration of the month of June from the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry by the Limbourg brothers, c. 1400.
   
What it looked likes like now from outside.
   
 
   
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