(jazz piano music)
- [Dr. Steven] We've walked into the courtyard
of what had once been the palace of the king of France
and in the center is a jewel box, Sainte-Chapelle.
- [Dr. Beth] This was the royal chapel,
this was a chapel attached to the Royal Palace
for the use of the king and his household
but it's much more than that.
- [Dr. Steven] We walked in through the lower chapel
which was used by the king's household
into the upper channel which was used
by the king, by the queen and by the court.
- [Dr. Beth] In fact, there are niches
on either side for the king and queen.
At the far end was a reliquary
and this was the whole point of Sainte-Chapelle.
- [Dr. Steven] The king Saint Louis had obtained
one of the great relics of Christendom, the Crown of Thorns.
This was part of the passion of Christ.
- [Dr. Beth] And of course, a crown is symbolic
of royalty and this was the chapel
of Saint Louis also known as King Louis IX.
- [Dr. Steven] Saint Louis was able to purchase
the crown from his cousin
who was the Byzantine emperor.
- [Dr. Beth] For an enormous sum.
- [Dr. Steven] And I think it's important
to just step back and think about
what that crown signified.
The faithful believe that the crown
had touched Christ, had made him bleed.
And the idea of the relic is central.
It collapses time,
it brings Christ into our immediate experience.
- [Dr. Beth] Now, relics were incredibly important
in Medieval culture.
They performed miracles.
- [Dr. Steven] Extremely ornate boxes were produced
in order to house them
and in some ways one can imagine
that this entire chapel functions metaphorically
as a reliquary for the Crown of Thorns.
- [Dr. Beth] It's said that more than three quarters
of this building is made of glass.
There's light flooding in.
It's a light that is golden and red and blue and purple.
- [Dr. Steven] This is a crowning achievement
of gothic architecture.
The lancet windows soar upward
pointing our eyes towards heaven.
- [Dr. Beth] And typically we see the four part
ribbed groin vaults.
- [Dr. Steven] And bundled colonettes that make the masonry
feel more delicate.
In fact, the masonry has been reduced to almost nothing,
really just mullions,
that is slender, vertical forms that separate the windows.
- [Dr. Beth] But we're here in the 13th century
beyond the high gothic.
A period that art historians called the Rayonnant
where we have this emphasis on thin line
and the total opening up of the walls to windows
which was always a goal of gothic architecture
but here taken to such an extreme.
Over the west door we see this enormous rose window.
Now, rose windows were a typical feature
of gothic architecture
but during this Rayonnant period,
the stone tracery that make up the stained glass window
becomes thinner and more attenuated
and more complex.
- [Dr. Steven] Now, the windows are not just beautiful,
they tell stories.
Each window refers to either an old or new testament story
or a story referring to the acquisition of the relic.
We see a window representing the moment when Christ
has the crown of thorns placed on his head,
the crown that by tradition was held in this church.
- [Dr. Beth] This is dense with imagery.
In addition to the stained glass windows,
we have sculptures of the apostles
that stand between the windows.
We have quatrefoils that depict scenes of martyrdom
and there are also angels in the spandrels
many of whom hold crowns,
some swing censors.
- [Dr. Steven] A reminder of what the space
would have been like when it was still used as a church.
So, imagine this space filled with music,
filled with the voice of the priest,
filled with the smoke of the incense
with colored lights streaming through.
It is this beautiful mystical space.
- [Dr. Beth] In addition to there being so much imagery,
so much of the surfaces are painted.
There are reds and golds and blues,
there's almost nothing that would remind us
that this is a building made of stone.
- [Dr. Steven] This completely open the interior space
with so much glass seems absolutely miraculous.
It is a testament to the sophistication
of gothic architects during this late period.
There seems like there's not nearly enough stone
to hold this building up.
Let's go outside and take a look at how this was achieved.
We've walked out of the chapel
and what strikes me is that
the building really stands alone.
It's tall and it's thin
but here we are in the middle of the Ile de la Cite,
a small island in the middle of modern Paris.
- [Dr. Beth] And in the 13th century
at the very time that Sainte-Chapelle was built,
Paris was becoming the capital
that we know it as today.
- [Dr. Steven] We can see how the building structure
works from the outside.
The actual responsibility for bearing
the great weight of the stone vaulting
is carried by the buttresses
which we can see on the exterior.
All of that weight was brought outside
but the buttresses are kept fairly small
in order to ensure that light can enter in the windows
which creates another problem.
The lateral force of the roof is pushing outward
and these buttresses on their own
wouldn't be enough to support the roof.
- [Dr. Beth] There is an additional structural element
that was added to help ensure the stability of the building.
There are iron rods that act like a kind of girdle
to counter the thrust of the vaulting down and out.
- [Dr. Steven] Some art historians have pointed out
that the exterior top of the building
looks rather like a crown.
- [Dr. Beth] If we look up toward the top of Saint-Chapelle
we see gables and in between the gables those buttresses.
But the buttresses have on top of them
these tall pinnacles
and we almost read that alternations of gables and pinnacles
as the points on a crown.
- [Dr. Steven] And in fact the phrase Sainte-Chapelle
is a specific type of chapel,
that is a chapel within the palace grounds
and that holds a relic.
(jazz piano music)