A royal chapel built almost entirely of glass, and next door the Gothic palace that became the Revolution's prison. Two hours on the island that Paris grew from.
Louis IX built the Sainte-Chapelle in the 1240s to house the Crown of Thorns. The walls of its upper chapel are almost all glass.
You enter through the low, painted lower chapel, then climb a narrow spiral stair. At the top the upper chapel opens: windows 15 metres high telling around 1,100 Bible scenes in red and blue, with the rose window in the west.
The chapel sits inside the Palais de Justice, so entry is through a security check shared with the courts. Book a timed slot: €22 for most visitors, €16 for EU residents.
Next door, the Conciergerie keeps the vast Gothic Hall of the Men-at-Arms, the medieval kitchens and the cells of the Revolution, including the reconstructed cell of Marie-Antoinette. The combined ticket is €30, or €23 for residents.
A morning on the Île de la Cité.
Pass the court security, then pause in the lower chapel's painted vaults.
Climb into the glass and give your eyes a few minutes to adjust before you read the windows.
The Hall of the Men-at-Arms, one of the largest medieval halls in Europe.
The queen's last weeks, and the chapel built in her memory.
Walk past the flower market and out to the Pont Neuf and the willow-shaded tip of the island.
Book on the national monuments site; the combined ticket covers both on the same day.
Métro Cité (line 4), or Saint-Michel on RER B and C.
Evening classical concerts in the upper chapel are a beautiful way to see it.
Paris practical notes →Photographs from Wikimedia Commons and Pexels under their licences.
