Sainte-Chapelle is one of the most breathtaking Gothic structures ever built, and that's not hyperbole — it genuinely stops people in their tracks. Commissioned by King Louis IX and consecrated in 1248, it was designed to house what he believed were Christ's Crown of Thorns and fragments of the True Cross, relics he'd purchased at enormous expense from the Latin Emperor of Constantinople. The chapel sits within the Palais de la Cité complex on Île de la Cité, tucked quietly behind the Palais de Justice, which means many visitors walk right past it without realizing what's inside.
Religious Place