Sainte-Chapelle: Paris's Most Dazzling Stained Glass

Part of the Conciergerie is still used as Paris's courthouse, and Sainte-Chapelle sits in the courthouse's inner courtyard. A combined ticket covers both sites, so it makes more sense to see both than just one, and most visitors tour the Conciergerie and then step into Sainte-Chapelle.

Notre-Dame is often named the most beautiful church in Paris, but the narrator argues that Sainte-Chapelle is every bit as deserving of the title. Both are Gothic, and when it comes to stained glass, the defining feature of Gothic architecture, Sainte-Chapelle is said to have the most beautiful in Paris. That alone, the narrator says, makes the title entirely fitting.

Because it stands inside the courthouse complex, many visitors check the map and still can't spot the chapel from the street. To get in, you have to enter through the courthouse side and look for the chapel's entrance, which can feel like hunting for a secret garden. Hemmed in by the courthouse, the chapel's exterior is hard to appreciate anyway, so skip the sightseeing outside and head straight in. On a sunny day, hurry even more: every minute earlier you walk in is another minute with the view.

The chapel has two levels. The ground floor, which you enter first, was for ordinary worshippers, while the upper chapel, reached by a staircase, was reserved for the royal family and the privileged. You don't need an explanation to feel how different the two floors are. For the supposedly most beautiful chapel in Paris, the lower level can seem rather ordinary. Then you climb to the upper chapel and can't help but gasp. Gothic vaults rise overhead, and nearly every wall is stained glass, so colored light floods the space like warm sunshine wrapping around the entire world. The windows are said to contain 1,134 scenes from the Old Testament, so the story they tell is as impressive as the light itself.