Consecrated in 1248 as a chapel connected to the palace of King Louis IX it remains one of the best examples of the Rayonnant period of Gothic architecture. Louis was a bit of a religious nut and spent a kings ransom buying various religious relics, like a piece of the holy cross, the crown of thorns, the image of Odessa, the sacred spear, etc. He needed a place to keep all his stuff so he commissioned the chapel. Like most French sacred buildings it suffered major damage during the French revolution of the late 18th century. At one stage it was used as records storage and the lower sections of beautiful stained glass were removed to allow more light in. The building was later faithfully restored by Eugene Voillet-le-Duc in 1855. It was declared a national monument in 1862.
It's located in the Palais de Justice area on the Isle de la Cite. You pass through police checks and metal detectors to enter the area. It looks non de script when first viewed from outside. A relatively small building with deep buttresses, none flying. You enter into the lower chapel, built for the servants, before taking narrow stairs to the main chapel that was preserved for the king and his family. There you are hit by an explosion of coloured light. The buttresses, that looked dour and heavy outside, are almost imperceivable as the tall windows dominate the space. Look further you look you start to pick up exquisite detailing everywhere.
The favourite past-time is to simply sit there and experience being in the space.
Most of these shots were taken with my trusty analogue Minolta and beautiful 17mm lens with up to half second exposure (braced against whatever was handy). J
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| relatively dour exterior |
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| beautiful lower chapel. Low sense of scale |
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explosion of light in the upper chapel.
Where did those buttresses go to? |
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| one of the most intact collections of 13th century glass anywhere... |
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| lovely detailing around the base walls |
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| amazing ceiling |
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