Day: 19 (3rd day in Paris) Km Travelled: 9.45km Steps: 14,769
September 25th, 2017
I found myself standing in a sea of light, the beauty crashing over me, like waves of an ocean. You’re unable to take it all in at once, the dazzling display of lights overwhelms the senses yet its impossible to look away. Everywhere you turn, colours sparkle in the early morning light, bouncing off the walls, reflecting off of each other. Each panel telling an individual story, yet it is together that they become whole. Now you may be asking, what has me so enraptured? Why, the Sainte Chapelle of course! Let me start at the beginning.
We had a full morning planned on our third day in the French capital. On the agenda: visiting the sites of l’Ile de la Cité‘ (‘La Sainte Chapelle’, ‘La Conciergerie’ &‘La Cathédrale Notre Dame’), all conveniently located near each other, in the heart of Paris. First up, the spectacular former royal chapel ‘La Sainte Chapelle’. Commissioned by King Louis IX and consecrated in 1248, the church was built to house Saint Louis’ collection of relics of Christ. Purchased indirectly from the Emperor of Constantinople, Baldwin II, these included the Crown of Thorns, the Image of Edessa, a piece of the True Cross and over 30 other items. The king believed that such significant relics deserved the most spectacular house. Now hidden with Paris’ ‘Palais de Justice’, the chapel was once within the ‘Palais de la Cité’, the official residence of the kings of France until the 1300’s.
La Sainte Chapelle as seen from the outside. This un-assuming building hides well the treasures within.
As soon as you arrive at the top of the stairs, this two-story royal chapel immediately dazzles. Stained glass windows, 360 degrees of them, depict various stories of the old and new testaments. Scenes of the life of Christ to The Passion, the stories of Esther, of David as well as the discovery of the relics themselves, all come to life in colour and glass. (The discovery of some of the relics, such as The True Cross, are credited to Saint Helena, mother of the first Christian Emperor, Constantine in the Holy Land in the year 328.
Having survived various stages of destruction and restoration over the years, the chapel, no longer used as a place of worship nor a reliquary, today stands a beautiful testament to Gothic architecture. Some of the surviving relics were moved to ‘La Cathédrale Notre Dame’, where they can still be seen by the faithful today.
‘Saint Louis’ – King Louis IX
Next door to the royal chapel stands another important, yet lesser visited, historical building: ‘La Conciergerie’. Also once a part of the royal palace, it served as the prison, where hundreds of prisoners were kept during the Revolution before their executions by guillotine. It’s most famous occupant: Queen Marie-Antoinette, wife of King Louis XVI.
Today, the museum is mostly sparse, the highlight of the visit being the room and chapel that were set aside for the Queen before her death. For the rest, it’s mostly left up to you and your imagination to place yourself in the shoes of these condemned men and women during The Reign of Terror. Luckily, ‘La Conciergerie’ is included in the price of admission to its more magnificent neighbour, La Sainte Chapelle.
🎼 And some say the soul of the city is the toll of the bells, the bells of Notre Dame. 🎼
Quasimodo was on the right track with that one! The beautiful and towering ‘Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Paris’ is a medieval marvel. Construction was completed in 1345, 182 years after its groundbreaking. After the Eiffel Tower, Notre-Dame is likely the attraction that comes to mind when most of you imagine Paris. And for good reason! Notre-Dame has played an important role both in history as well as in pop culture (we have Victor Hugo and Disney to thank for that!).
It’s free to visit the interior however the treasury and the climb up the bell tower are not. I chose to visit the cathedral treasury as it was something I had passed up on my last visit and ultimately, the pressing throng of visitors craning their necks to try to see over you was getting to me.
It is in the Notre-Dame treasury that are now housed the reaming relics and accompanying reliquaries of the ‘Sainte Chapelle’.
My travel companions chose, somewhat ‘accidentally’ to do the climb to the top of the bell tower. As my friend describes it: “Those “darn” stairs!!!”. (I gathered there was a lot of stairs…)
Reliquary – the Crown of Thorns. The circlet of rushes of the crown of thorns is displayed the first Friday of each month and continues to be guarded today by the Knights of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre.
Reliquary – The Holy Nail.
The rest of Notre-Dame is as you would imagine it; simple, not overly ornate yet still grand. The lights are low and the candles are flickering, creating a slightly sombre yet reverent atmosphere.
The rest of the day was spent in typical Parisian fashion: wandering the streets. The ‘Boulevard St Germain’, with its tourist shops and pseudo-authentic ethnic cuisines. Yet there’s an energy that’s present, a buzz that follows you around.
Hemingway’s old haunt: Shakespeare & Company book store remains a left bank favourite.
‘Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré‘ & it’s surrounding streets; luxury at its finest. Many designers have moved away from the now less exclusive ‘Champs Élyée” address to here. A staple in the area: La Durée, home of France’s best (and most expensive) macarons! There are lots to see in the area if you keep walking such as le Palais Élysée, Le Grand Palais, Le Petit Palais. If you keep going, you’re strolling down Les Champs Élysée towards l’Arc de Triomphe.
Elysee Palace, official residence of the French President. The street was blocked off as President Macron was welcoming the Lebanese President a few minutes after this photo was taken.
And of course, what day in Paris would be complete without stopping to rest your wary soul in one of the city’s numerous café, savouring a delicious glass of wine and watching the world go by.