The Sainte Chapelle

Introduction

The Sainte-Chapelle ("Holy Chapel"), established inside the Palais de Justice convoluted on the Ile de la Cité in the center of Paris, is a diminutive yet flawless demonstration of the Rayonnant Style of Gothic architecture. It was erected by Louis IX, monarch of France, to dwelling the Crown of Thorns and a fragment of the True Cross, prized relics of the Passion. Louis had bought these in 1239 from the Byzantine emperor Baldwin II, for the exorbitant addition of 135,000 livres (the chapel "only" cost 40,000 livres to build). Two years subsequent, more relics were conveyed from Byzantium.

Discussion

The top chapel is resplendent in its Gothic architecture — lightweight, hue, and space combine to motivate a sense of harmony between art and devout faith. Architects, sculptors and painters manifestly took the utmost care with the central of the top chapel, as this was the part of the construction booked for the monarch, his close associates and family, as well as for brandishing the devout relics.

Supported by slim piers, the vaulted ceiling appears to ride high overhead magnificent stained-glass windows. Most important of the sculpted adornments in the top chapel are the figurines of the twelve apostles, which thin on the pillars assessing the bays (Hofstatter p88). With their raging torrent dress, delicately boasted faces and hair in flattened curls, they impart a sense of serenity in all who contemplate them.

The Medieval place of adoration of the thirteenth 100 years used a powerful communal force. The notion of the "double-edged Sword" characterized secular as well as ecclesiastic administration as joined in God's Work. The idea of the State moved in the direction of the notion Divine Right Monarchy, or not less than, the good thing of secular administration through devout structure and ritual. The world of paradise was conceived as organized in a hierarchical alignment, mirrored in the hierarchical structure of the state. Application of these concepts was made all through Europe, but nowhere more effectively than by France's monarch Louis IX. Louis was granted the relic of Christ's Crown of Thorns by the Emperor of Constantinople in exchange for infantry help keeping protected the Byzantine Empire against Muslim invaders (Mills 14). The Papal note of authorization asserted to Louis that "Christ has crested you with his crest of thorns (Blaser 128)." The King assembled a regal chapel as a monumental reliquary for this prize. The adorning programs show continuity of Old Testament Kingship, Christ's Apostles, and France's monarchy, conflating them into a lone, unbroken line of authority.

The Sainte Chapelle is an attractive Gothic chapel in Paris. It was constructed on Ile de la Cite in 1246 throughout the middle Ages by Saint Louis, the King of France. The Royal chapel was a major exemplar of the freshly evolving culminating stage of Gothic architectural method called "Rayonnant" that accomplished a sense of weightlessness. Its architect is usually considered to have been Peter of Montereau. It stands squarely upon a smaller chapel which assisted as parish place of adoration for all the ...