Normandy, Brittany & the Best of the North_ With Paris (Fodor's) - Fodor's [113]
Fodor’s Choice | Sainte-Chapelle (Holy Chapel).
Not to be missed and one of the most magical sights in European medieval art, this Gothic chapel was built by Louis IX (1226–70; later canonized as St. Louis) in the 1240s to house what he believed to be Christ’s Crown of Thorns, purchased from Emperor Baldwin of Constantinople. A dark lower chapel is a gloomy prelude to the shimmering upper one. Here the famous beauty of Sainte-Chapelle comes alive: instead of walls, all you see are 6,458 square feet of stained glass, delicately supported by painted stonework that seems to disappear in the colorful light streaming through the windows. The lowest section of the windows was restored in the mid-1800s, but otherwise this chapel presents intact incredibly rare stained glass. Deep reds and blues dominate the background glass here, noticeably different from later, lighter medieval styles such as those in Notre-Dame’s rose windows. The Sainte-Chapelle is essentially an enormous magic lantern illuminating the 1,130 figures from the Bible, to create—as one writer poetically put it—”the most marvelous colored and moving air ever held within four walls.” Originally, the king’s holy relics were displayed in the raised apse and shown to the faithful on Good Friday. Today the magic of the chapel comes alive during the regular concerts held here;check the schedule at www.ampconcerts.com. | 4 bd. du Palais, Ile de la Cité | 75001 | 01–53–40–60–80 | sainte-chapelle.monuments-nationaux.fr | €8, joint ticket with Conciergerie €11 | Mar.– Oct., daily 9:30–6; Nov.–Feb., daily 9–5 | Station: Cité.
WORTH NOTING FROM NOTRE-DAME TO THE PLACE DE LA CONCORDE
Fodor’s Choice | Ancien Cloître Quartier.
Hidden in the shadows of Notre-Dame, this adorable and often overlooked nook of Paris was thankfully spared when Baron Haussmann knocked down much of the Ile de la Cité in the 19th century. Enter the quarter—originally the area where seminary students boarded with the church canons—by heading north from the cathedral toward the Seine to reach Rue Chanoinesse, once the seminary’s cloister walk. Here, at No. 10, is the house that was once paradise to those fabled lovers of the Middle Ages, Héloïse and Abélard. That house, unfortunately, is completely renovated, but there are other houses here that date back to the Middle Ages. Although defaced by a modern police station and garage, this tiny warren of six streets still casts a spell, particularly at the intersection of Rue des Ursins and Rue des Chantres, where a lovely medieval palace, tiny flower garden, and quayside steps form a cul-de-sac where time seems to be holding its breath. | Rue du Cloître-Notre-Dame north to Quai des Fleurs, Ile de la Cité | Station: Cité.
Conciergerie.
Much of Ile de la Cité’s medieval buildings fell victim to wunderkind planner Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann’s ambitious rebuilding program of the 1860s. Among the rare survivors is the former city prison where Marie-Antoinette and other victims of the French Revolution spent their last days. Built by Philip IV in the 13th and 14th centuries, the Conciergerie was part of the original palace of the kings of France, before the royals moved into the Louvre, in 1358; in 1391, this palace was turned into a prison. During the French Revolution, the Conciergerie famously imprisoned Queen Marie-Antoinette as she awaited her fatal trip to the guillotine. You can visit a re-creation of Marie-Antoinette’s cell, see lifelike wax figures sadly await their fate behind bars, and read letters penned by some of Paris’s famous revolutionaries. The chapel’s stained glass is emblazoned with the initials