Louis IX, who was to become Saint Louis, had this chapel built in the 13th century in order to put relics from the Passion of Christ in a safe place. The Holy Chapel (Sainte-Chapelle) is the jewel of High Gothic architecture.
After he acquired several relics, among which was the crown of thorns, Saint Louis decided to have a reliquary chapel built that would be worthy of these holy objects. Constructed in six years, the Holy Chapel was finished in 1248. His foreman remains unknown; it might be Pierre de Montreuil, the architect of Notre Dame and Saint Denis churches.
The building is a Palatine chapel, the upper part of which was reserved for the sovereign (a gallery linked the chapel to the royal suite) and in the lower part of which lived the staff of the Palace.
The lower chapel served as a base to the monument, whereas the upper one was designed as a monumental shrine, finely painted and worked, where the relics were carefully kept. Beside murals, the walls of the upper chapel have out-standingly delicate and varied sculptures. The exceptional stained-glass windows, two-thirds of which are of origin, represent the most complete collection about the art of stained-glass window making in the 13th century.
Seriously damaged during the French Revolution, the Holy Chapel was remarkably restored in the 19th century.
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