Sainte Chapelle et Notre Dame

On Monday morning Taylor and I crossed the bridge to Île de la Cité to visit Sainte Chapelle and Notre Dame. Sainte Chapelle, a small gothic chapel that was completed in 1248 and built to house relics of the Passion of Christ, has incredibly stunning stained glass windows that tell many of the stories of the Bible. 

After Saint Chapelle, we took a short walk to Notre Dame, the much larger and more well known cathedral on the same island. Notre Dame was completed in 1345, after nearly two centuries of construction work. It is one of the most well known cathedrals in Paris and throughout the world. 

Upon entering the first thing on the right was a large crucifix. I lit a candle for each set of my grandparents, Alexander and Regina Rutkowski and Godfrey and Dorothy Barnosky, and reflected for a moment upon their lives and how much they would have enjoyed seeing this cathedral.  After walking around for a bit and learning about the history with the help of our audio guides, we were treated to a short performance by a wonderful visiting choir. 

As we continued on we came upon the chapel where the crown of thorns was displayed, encased in red glass. I was quite shocked about this, but turns out it is not the actual crown of thorns, but at most maybe a third class relic.

After touring the inside of Notre Dame, we climbed up to the bell towers which have wonderful views of the city.