“The Sainte-Chapelle (Holy Chapel) is located in the heart of Paris, in the oldest part of the city (Ile de la Cité), where the royal palace once stood. Despite being small compared to the grand Gothic cathedrals throughout France and England, it is considered a perfect example of flamboyant Gothic architecture. Many even consider it to be the most beautiful architectural work of this style.
It was commissioned by Louis IX (also known as Saint Louis) to house precious relics of the Passion: Christ’s crown of thorns and pieces of the True Cross that the French king purchased from Emperor Baldwin II. The chapel served as an enlarged reliquary to store these sacred objects.
Sainte-Chapelle was built in just six years (1238-1248), resulting in an unusually consistent style in architecture and artistic craftsmanship for that time. Most Gothic cathedrals were built over several decades, with artists, craftsmen, and architects changing over the years.
The chapel has two levels and consists of two chapels of the same size (33 x 10.7 meters), but with different dimensions and architectural styles.” quiet heights. Solid foundations and strong pillars of the lower floor carry an airy upper part that is topped with a cedarwood roof, standing at a height of 33.25 meters.
By its internal surface, Sainte-Chapelle is no bigger than a village church, but its height is comparable to the first Gothic cathedrals. The vault of the upper floor reaches a height of 20.50 meters. On the west facade, there is an entrance porch with pointed, Gothic arches.
The lower chapel, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, has a low vault, with a height of 6.60 meters, and is much darker than the upper part. Only a few small openings are left in the walls because they bear the entire weight of the upper chapel. The dim atmosphere and small dimensions somewhat resemble a crypt, but the refinement of the pillars and decorations contradict this impression.
The inner pillars that support the four-part vault are richly adorned with alternating golden motifs of the French fleur-de-lis on an azure background and golden motifs of a Castilian fortress on a red background, in honor of the king’s mother. ke Blanke Castillo. The vault dominated by azure background with golden fleur-de-lis resembles a starry sky.
The upper, single-naved royal chapel, dedicated to the Blood of Christ and the Cross, housed precious relics in a special casket.
Floral Gothic is fully expressed in this chapel. The architect, builders, sculptors, and painters used all their ingenuity to create a true masterpiece. Light, colors, and spaciousness blend into a perfect harmony of art and the power of medieval faith.
Flying buttresses, a characteristic architectural solution of the Gothic style, are built so that they are highly projected forward, but in this case, they would not be enough to take over the forces of vault pressure. Due to the absence of side aisles, external support columns on which these forces are transferred using flying buttresses were not considered. The problem was solved with a ingenious innovation – tying the walls with a metal mesh, a technique that builders did not use. and until the end of the 19th century, when it was “discovered”.
The vault appears to float above the glazed surfaces, bundles of nine pillars are arranged in such a way that the volume of the buttress is almost imperceptible.
This so-called court style of Louis IX later spread throughout Europe, and it was named rayonnant gothic (“radiating light”) due to its characteristic radiating bars of the large rose windows. The bundle-like column type then first appeared in European architecture, and light became an important component.
Sainte-Chapelle is a masterpiece of transparency in which load-bearing walls seem to be non-existent, yielding to the richly colored stained glass windows that cover 600 square meters of surface area. Most of the windows are originals mainly from the 13th century, while the rose window above the western portal is from the 15th century.
The parts of the stained glass are connected with lead, and only five colors were used for the paintings: ruby red, sapphire blue, light green, yellow, and purple, with red and blue dominating.
Fifteen. f hend lychka spaja u krug kapele stvara iluzionistički dojam bez gravitacije. U tim oslikanim prozorima prikazana je cijela biblijska povijest čovječanstva, od Stvaranja do Spasenja kroz Krista, dok se u velikom cvijetu rozete promjera devet metara opisuje Apokalipsa. Ukupno tisuću sto trinaest scena prikazano je na bočnim prozorima visokim petnaest metara.
Od klesarskih ukrasa, koje je također prepuna Sveta kapela, najvažnije je spomenuti kipove apostola koji su postavljeni uz zidove niša. Skupljene, lepršave haljine, miran izraz lica, kovrčava kosa, sve to doprinosi osjećaju unutarnje radosti.
Iako se i dalje naziva Sveta kapela, danas se ne koristi za vjerske obrede. Ostaci relikvija su preneseni u parišku katedralu Notre Dame, dok se u Svetoj kapeli održavaju koncerti klasične glazbe i otvorena je za turiste. No, Sveta kapela, s njenim veličanstvenim zidovima od vitraja i cvjetnim rozetama koje ispunjavaju prostor šarenom svjetlošću, blista poput dragulja i oduševljava posjetitelje. It leaves visitors in awe, provokes excitement, and evokes a longing for the sublime that inspired its creators.