Sainte-Chapelle and Notre-Dame Cathedral

View of the windows above the alter in the upper chapel of Sainte-Chapelle

Today I visited two of Paris's most notable churches, constructed in the Middle Ages.  My first stop was Sainte-Chapelle which is noted for it's stained glass windows, which let an amazing amount of light in to illuminate the painted chapel walls.  A photograph cannot capture how both the lower and upper chapels glow with the large application of gold leaf set against the painted blue walls.  At this very moment Sainte Chapelle is undergoing a large restoration project on the windows in the upper chapel, the workers are working to the left of the alter in the photograph.  They will try to keep as much of the original leading as possible during the process.  During the rein of Louie IX he made Paris become a "New Jerusalem" with the purchase of the Holy Relics, which had belonged to the emperors of Constantinople since the 4th century.

A photo of me in the upper chapel

Ceiling of the lower chapel

After a cup of chocolat chard (hot chocolate) and a crepe filled with chocolat and coconut I ventured on to the next Gothic structure, Notre-Dame Cathedral.  Nortre-Dame is known for it's unique gargoyles and chimeras which cover the exterior of the building. The true function of a gargoyle was to take water away from the building, and they are so named because of the noise the water would make as it passed through the carved structure.  Chimeras or grotesques on the other hand were mythical creatures that were used solely for decorative purposes.  I climbed the tower in order to view the chimera gallery at close proximity, it was amazing to feel the stone that was was expertly carved in 12th and 13th centuries.

This chimera still watches over the city of Paris

One of the famed gargoyles of Notre-Dame