Sainte - Chapelle, Paris. The story of the arrival of the Holy Crown in Paris.

The Sainte-Chapelle Paris, built by King Louis IX in the 13th century to house the Holy Crown or the Crown of Thorns. The ultimate treasure of the medieval Palais de la Cité is the Sainte-Chapelle. With the Conciergerie, former royal palace, from 6th to 14th century, the Sainte-Chapelle is one of the remains of the Palais de la Cité. Commissioned by King Louis IX (Saint Louis) in the 13th century, this Gothic jewel was built as a giant, stone reliquary to house the Crown of Thorns and fragments of the True Cross. Built in Rayonnant Gothic style, this 13th-century masterpiece is famous for its verticality, slender structural forms, and vast walls of stained glass that replace traditional stone facades.
The chapel is divided into two distinct levels, each reflecting unique architectural and functional goals: The Lower Chapel Designed for the royal staff and palace commoners. It features heavily robust, powerful vaults and stout columns—that serve as structural support for the soaring upper sanctuary. The Upper Chapel Built as an elaborate, jeweled shrine for the king and his relics. It utilizes an ingenious iron framework and interior buttresses, which allow the load-bearing walls to virtually disappear. This supports roughly 670 square meters of stained glass windows, illustrating the Bible, immersing the space in radiant, colored light and creating the most dazzling Gothic interior anywhere.
According to Christian tradition, the Crown of Thorns was found in the Holy Land by St. Helena in the 4th century, and kept untill 6th century in the basilica on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. Historians date the relocation of it to Constantinople by 1063, where it was housed in the imperial chapel of Our Lady of the Lighthouse for over a century, before being moved to France. During the Crusades, the Latin Emperor of Constantinople, Baldwin II, ran into severe debt and pawned the Crown to Venetian financiers. In 1238, King Louis IX of France redeemed it from the Venetians and brought it to Paris, constructing the Sainte-Chapelle to house it.

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