In the heart of Paris, on the Île de la Cité, visit the Sainte-Chapelle, this palatine chapel, a vestige of the Palais de la Cité with the neighboring Conciergerie, and built at the request of Louis IX, known as Saint-Louis, to house the relics of the Passion of Christ that he had acquired.

 

 

 

In Gallo-Roman times, when Paris was called Lutetia, the Île de la Cité was surrounded by walls, Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral was a temple, and the Conciergerie was a fortress.

 

At the end of the 10th century, the fortress was transformed into the Palais de la Cité under the Capetian dynasty.

From the 11th to the 14th centuries, the Palace was enlarged and embellished by successive French kings, and it was in the 13th century that Louis IX, the future Saint Louis, established it as a specialized institution for administrative, judicial, and financial matters, and built the Sainte-Chapelle within its walls.

 

In 1239, Louis IX, a devout Christian, purchased the Crown of Thorns from Baldwin II of Courtenay, the Latin Emperor of Byzantium.

In 1241, he acquired 22 other relics of the Passion of Christ, including a fragment of the True Cross, thus making Paris a beacon of Western Christendom in the eyes of Europe. Louis IX then decided to erect a monument worthy of these treasures.

 

The Sainte-Chapelle, designed as a palatine chapel and located in the heart of the Palace of the City of the Capetian kings, was built in seven years, a record time for the period.

It comprises a lower chapel, reserved for the Palace staff, and an upper chapel, reserved for the king and his distinguished guests, in which the relics of the Passion of Christ are displayed.

An extraordinary masterpiece of Rayonnant Gothic architecture, the Sainte-Chapelle also houses a collection of 15 exceptional stained-glass windows, composed of 1,113 scenes from the Old and New Testaments.

 

The Sainte-Chapelle was damaged by fires in 1630 and 1776, and again during the French Revolution, a period in which most of the relics of the Passion disappeared. Christ's Crown of Thorns, however, was saved and moved to Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral in 1806.

After the Revolution, the Sainte-Chapelle ceased to be used for religious services and served as a warehouse for the archives of the Palais de Justice (the Paris courthouse). Some of its stained-glass windows were subsequently dispersed on the art market.

The chapel was later saved from destruction thanks to public pressure and the efforts of Victor Hugo, one of its greatest defenders. Its 13th-century appearance was then fully restored between 1840 and 1863.

Today, two-thirds of the stained-glass windows in the Sainte-Chapelle are original.

 

 

During your stay at the Hotel Jardin Le Brea, after your visit to the Conciergerie, continue to explore the history of France and the heart of Paris by visiting the Sainte-Chapelle, a true jewel of Gothic architecture.

 

 

How to get to the Sainte-Chapelle from the Hotel Jardin Le Brea?

Sainte-Chapelle - 10, boulevard du Palais 75001 Paris

- From the Hotel Jardin Le Brea, take metro line 4 from Vavin station (1-minute walk), direction Porte de Clignancourt, get off at Cité station. The Sainte-Chapelle is about a 4-minute walk from there.

The total travel time from our hotel is 15 minutes.

 

 

Practical Information

https://www.sainte-chapelle.fr/en