Paris - part 6 (Ile de la Cite)

So, as I may have mentioned in the last five postings, it was cold and rainy while we were in Paris. On our free day (nothing scheduled with the group) Sarah and I walked around quite a bit. The rain did not deter us too much. We started off with two beautiful locations that indoors, as churches often are. We went to the Ile de la Cité, which is that little island in the River Seine in the middle of Paris.
The Ile de la Cité was the home at various times to Gallic tribes, the Romans, and eventually the Franks. The Frankish king Clovis built a castle on the island for his Merovingian kingdom of Neustria, and in the early Middle Ages the island was used as a defensive point against the vikings. In the 900s a cathedral was built on the island which was the predecessor to Notre Dame. Eventually, the city of Paris grew around this central point, and today distances on highways originating in Paris are still measured from the zero kilometer point (Point zero) in front of Notre Dame.
What's all this have to do with our trip to Paris? Nothing really. I'm just bored. Anyway, we went to the Ile de la Cité to see something that I did not see on our trip to Paris a few years ago.


Sainte-Chapelle is a gothic chapel on the island that is in the courtyard of the royal palace. It means Holy Chapel in English, and was built to house holy relics including Jesus's crown of thorns. Supposedly, Louis IX bought the crown of thorns for over three times the amount that was paid to build the amazing chapel.


The stained glass windows are amazing. We don't see too much of them in Italy, especially this large. And these are supposed to be the best example of this type of stained glass, whatever type that is.


Windows this large were made possible by the thin vaulting that left so much space available for non-structural elements. Since this is not a gigantic church the columns don't have to support as much weight. It's science.
I think that I heard that the Italians didn't use stained glass this much because the churches would be extremely hot like in a greenhouse. I don't know anything about greenhouses.


Here is the rose window at the rear of the chapel.


Sarah and I gaze in wonder.


A little person takes another picture of us.


The walls were painted and decorated over every square inch. I checked.


Some poor martyr holds the top of his head as the wild ax man struts away in victory. The poor man is left to talk to his bald head.


From there we took the short walk southeast to a more well-known place. Notice that it isn't raining? When we left is was. And it didn't stop the rest of the day.


Oh, and there's Charlemagne.


Some of the Sainte-Chapelle relics were moved here during the French Revolution. This included the crown of thorns. Apparently they're still around and brought out on some holidays.


There was a mass in progress when we arrived so we didn't stay to look around for long. We just meandered around in the back with the hundreds of other non-church-going-at-the-time tourists.


Here is one side aisle. Oh, mass ended. Let them go in peace. I guess we could have stuck around, but we didn't for some reason. I think we were hungry. We went and ate at a Greek restaurant. Why not?


Notre Dame is Paris's cathedral and the seat of the Archbishop of Paris. This gothic church was one of the first to employ flying butresses which relieves the horizontal thrust of the vaults. We don't see much of that in Italy. For some reason the Italians hide their butressing inside other elements.


Notre Dame was built between 1163 and 1345 on the site of an older cathedral that was demolished to make way for one fit for European kings. And hunchbacks, or whatever the politically correct term would be.
Paris will continue...