Sainte-Chapelle
Louis IX built it to house Christ's Crown of Thorns, then wrapped the upper chapel in 15 walls of glass that dissolve the stone.
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Consecrated in 1248 as a royal chapel, the upper level carries 670 square meters of Rayonnant Gothic stained glass, nearly two-thirds of it still the original 13th-century work, a rare survival at this scale.
What to look for
- The window cycle reads clockwise from Genesis and ends with Louis IX himself carrying the Passion relics to Paris.
- The 9-meter western rose window: 89 panels of the Apocalypse, added in the 15th century and stylistically later than the rest.
- Downstairs, the lower chapel's fleur-de-lis of Louis IX and the castle emblem of his mother, Blanche of Castile.
It sits within the Palais de la Cité on Île de la Cité, beside today's Palais de Justice; the upper chapel's glass reads best in bright daylight.
Sainte-Chapelle is one of 39 sights worth the detour in Paris, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Paris pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Paris
- Eiffel TowerThe 300-metre iron tower Parisian artists petitioned against before it was even finished.
- Louvre MuseumThe world's most-visited museum lives inside a 12th-century fortress that became a royal palace.
- Notre-Dame de ParisThe spire fell on live TV in April 2019; since December 2024 you can walk back inside.
- Musée d'OrsayVan Gogh and Monet hung inside a Beaux-Arts station built for the Paris–Orléans railway.
- Champs-ÉlyséesA single 1.9-km straight line runs from the Concorde obelisk to the Arc de Triomphe — Paris's ceremonial spine on the Axe historique.
- Place de la BastilleThe prison that lit a revolution is gone — and the mob that stormed it on 14 July 1789 came for gunpowder, not the seven forgotten men inside.