The Sainte Chapelle is 1 of the finest specimens of High Gothic architecture in the world, and it is impossible to give the reader any adequate concept of its peculiar beauty. But I can briefly sketch it, and at least point out some of its most striking attributes. The Sainte Chapelle was erected by St. Louis in 1248, and set apart for the reception of relics bought of the emperor of Constantinople. The Chapelle consists of an upper and a lower chapel—the upper communicating with the old palace of the ancient kings of France. It was formerly appropriated to the king and court. The lower chapel opens into the lower courts of the palace, and was appropriated to the use of the widespread individuals in and around the palace.

The entrance is quite narrow – so significantly so that a great view of the front can not be had. It has a portico of 3 Gothic arches with intersecting buttresses, and in connection with lateral buttresses there are two spiral towers with spiral stair-circumstances. Between the towers there is a splendid circular window, which was constructed by Charles VIII. The spires of the church are octagonal, and are adorned with mouldings and traceries, and also at about half-height with a crown of thorns. The various sides of the Chapelle are in the very same style – with buttresses between the windows, gables surmounting these, and a fine open parapet crowning all. The roof is sloping, and the height is over a hundred feet. The spire measures, from the vaulting, seventy feet. The upper chapel is entered by a staircase, and an exquisite view presents itself. A single apartment, a half-circular chair, with fine, significant windows, detached columns with bases and capitals, and fine groining – these all strike the eye of the visitor as he crosses the threshold. The entire is gorgeously painted and interspersed with fleur de lis. In the nave there is a carved wooden stair-case of the thirteenth century. The windows are filled with stained glass which dates from 1248, and has escaped destruction in the course of two fantastic revolutions and two world wars.

Near the altar there is a side chapel, to which access is had from below. Here Louis XI utilised to come, amid the choicest relics, and say his prayers. Some of the relics are still preserved, and consist of a crown of thorns, a piece of the cross upon which Christ was crucified, and a lot of antique gems. The Chapelle and the relics cost Louis two millions eight hundred thousand francs – the relics alone costing an enormous quantity.

At the time of the French revolution, this ancient and stunning creating escaped destruction by its conversion by the government into courts of justice. The internal decorations had been, however, partly destroyed. The church, as it exists now, in a state of total restoration, is one of the finest church interiors in Paris, and the best specimen of its peculiar kind of architecture in the world.