The Sainte-Chappelle chapel is famous for its magnificent stained glass. Located on Ile de la Cite in the center of Paris, this chapel is a lesser known tourist site, but is still worth the trip. The colorful stained glass is unmatched with its vivid depictions of stories from the Book of Genesis through the Book of Revelation.
Louis IX had the chapel built to house Jesus’ crown of thorns and a piece of the cross, relics he bought from the Byzantine Emperor in 1239. Though small, Sainte-Chappelle contains 6,456 square feet or 600 square meters of stained glass. The chapel still has two-thirds of its original glass, some of the 12th century’s best.
