Sainte-Chapelle

Sainte-Chapelle in Paris opens with Louis IX walking barefoot through the streets in 1239, carrying what was then Christendom's most expensive relic, bought from Venetian bankers holding it as collateral for a bankrupt emperor. The guide follows the audacious chapel he commissioned to house it, fifteen soaring stained-glass bays built in under seven years and consecrated in 1248. Look up at the panels and see how much of that thirteenth-century glass still surrounds you.