Another beautiful church in Île de la Cité is the Sainte-Chapelle. Significantly lesser people compared to the Notre-Dame, probably because they do not conduct any services here.
Love the details of the gates in Paris.
The first floor of the Sainte-Chapelle was some history about Louis III (If I'm not wrong) and a souvenir store. Proceeded to climb up a really windy narrow dark staircase which felt like it would never end. Im pretty sure it wasn't that high though, the curvature of the stairwell made my head spin!
After climbing up the dark odd smelling staircase, I met with this glorious view.
I was just standing at the top of the stairs and taking in whatever that was before my eyes. Everyone who came up behind all gasped and wow-ed and went "oh my gosh".
The first time seeing all the stain glass windows is unexplainable. The picture most definitely does not do the place justice.
The stained glass windows in the Sainte-Chapelle chronologically tells the story of the bible with each individual square window depicting a specific scene. It was magnificent. I had fun attempting to spot the various bible stories that I recognised, with the help of the guide of course.
If you look closely at this square, it shows Jesus wearing the Crown of Thorns before crucifixion.
I took forever just to get a semi-clear image of that with my lousy iPhone.
Other details of the chapel that would probably be overshadowed by the beautiful panels of stained-glass windows.
Even the floor had a pretty unique pattern!
Two detail shots of the chapel's exterior
I think Sainte-Chapelle is really underrated. For all the beauty it possesses, it should be as famous as the Notre-Dame. Unfortunately many Singaporeans who come to Paris would just go to the Notre-Dame Cathedral and then head over to the Eiffel Tower or something "more interesting". Prior to this trip, I did not come across other Singaporeans who blogged or took photos of the Sainte-Chapelle even though they've been to the Notre-Dame. What a shame.
I loved the atmosphere here I stopping and turning around or walking back to take another look every time I headed towards the exit.
Definitely worth the queue and the steps!
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