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The Windows of Sainte-Chapelle

(stained glass, 1248)

A medieval writer, on seeing the upper chapel of Sainte-Chapelle for the first time, exclaimed that it was “one of Heaven’s most beautiful rooms.” Perhaps that is an overstatement, but just barely. It is certainly one of the most splendid interiors in the world. Just a short walk from the more famous Notre Dame cathedral, the upper chapel of Sainte-Chapelle is one of the often-overlooked treasures of Paris. Though the chapel is tiny in comparison with the naves of the great cathedrals, its impact is immense. It dazzles like a monumental piece of jewelry, with light slanting through the fourteen stained glass windows that surround the perimeter and sparkling upon the golden stars that are painted against a deep blue in the vaults. Its walls seem weightless and almost nonexistent, surfaces of such translucence they create the illusion that the whole room is enveloped in glass, almost like a heavenly greenhouse built to grow and nurture faith. When night falls and the candelabras are lit, the effect is equally magical.

Sainte-Chapelle was originally commissioned by Louis IX to house his collection of holy relics, most especially the “authentic” crown of thorns and a fragment of the true cross, and was consecrated in April 1248. Although some might dismiss the historical claims of such relics, they were taken very seriously by medieval Christians and were treasured as objects in which the realm of the holy intersected with the earthly. These treasures, so highly valued, were kept out of general public view in an elaborate reliquary, but what the public could view—the magnificent stained glass windows of the chapel—was a treasure in itself.

Interior of Sainte-Chapelle [© Pierre Poschadel/Wikimedia Commons, CC-by-3.0]

The whole story of redemption, from creation to the end of time, unfolds on these windows. Particular emphasis was given to recounting the events of the passion of Christ and to the stories of the great kings of Old Testament history, those ancient Jewish rulers who were seen by the window’s designers as precursors to the kings of France. Therefore, the designs often make a nod to French royalty with their heraldic motifs, and one of the windows is particularly occupied with showing the rediscovery and relocation of the sacred relics. The large rose window in Sainte-Chapelle (to the visitor’s back as one faces the altar) takes the apocalypse as its theme, perhaps as a warning to those who stand outside this holy history.

Although the individual panes of stained glass in the overall design are not comparable to some of the finest individual panes found in places such as Chartres or Notre Dame, the overall effect created by being enveloped by soaring walls of glass is Sainte-Chapelle’s uniquely breathtaking achievement—it is filled with light. Light is a common metaphor for the experience of God’s power and glory, one used throughout the Scriptures (see Matt. 4:16; 5:16; John 8:12; 1 John 1:7; Rev. 21:23). It is not surprising, then, that the stained glass window became a common artistic way to express this glory and to reveal the details of God’s story.

Stained glass windows are the work of artists and engineers who create them by taking small, shaped pieces of glass in a variety of colors, arranging them in an eye-pleasing design, and painting the finishing details onto their surfaces. These colored panes are held in place by an intricate web of leading that binds them together and incorporates them into the overall design of the window. This leading had to be both strong and pliable to hold the weight of the pieces of glass, yet give the artist freedom to be creative and innovative.

We find a mention of stained glass in churches as early as the fourth century, but the earliest examples were probably just colored glass installed in the windows for beautiful effect. It wasn’t until the twelfth century that painting details on the colored glass, and thus stained glass as we know it really came into its own. Around 1120 Theophilus wrote a book, The Various Arts, in which he included detailed instruction on how stained glass windows were made, and though there have been innovations, the central process is largely unchanged to this day.

Stained glass windows serve several major purposes in the context of a church or cathedral. First, they provide natural lighting for the interior of the building. Before the advent of electricity, the inside of these towering buildings would have been exceedingly dark and gloomy if it were not for the light streaming in through the many large windows. The technical innovations of cathedral construction in the transition from Romanesque to Gothic style allowed for much larger windows—and more of them. So they quickly became an important element in the overall impact of the cathedrals, which showcase the luminous windows as a major element in their design.

But the windows serve more than a practical purpose. They also heighten the aesthetic experience for worshipers by creating a mystical atmosphere of light. Shafts of light slanting down into the cathedral from the windows produce a play of light as dust motes dance in the shimmering illumination. These windows are a living metaphor for one of the goals of the Christian life—to allow God to shine through our lives and reflect his glory. We may never do so as well as these multicolored windows, but each of us can become a prism for radiating God’s light.

Stained glass windows are not only a source of earthly and spiritual light but also an artistic representation of the great stories of the faith. Though sometimes the windows are merely abstract or semiabstract designs, more often they are engaged in telling a story—the biblical stories of the Old and New Testaments, tales of the saints, or important moments from sacred or civic history. In a time when few people were literate, the stained glass windows could be “read” by those who could not get these stories from books. Standing before the windows, one could look up and linger over each important biblical story and be reminded of God’s life among his people.

Sainte-Chapelle is just one example of the many extraordinary collections of stained glass that can be found in cathedrals, churches, chapels, and public buildings throughout the world. Other must-see windows might include the stained glass in the cathedrals in Bourges, Strasbourg, Cologne, Sienna, Canterbury, and York Minster.

Nearer our own day, unforgettable designs in stained glass have been created by the likes of Pre-Raphaelite artists Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris, who sparked a nineteenth-century revival of the art form. Other luminaries in this art form include Louis Comfort Tiffany, Christopher Whall, Henri Matisse, and Marc Chagall—the most acclaimed of modern stained glass artists, who brought his own modern style to the creation of incandescent stained glass windows in a synagogue in Jerusalem, at the Art Institute of Chicago, in Union Church in upstate New York, and other locations. The art of light and color found in stained glass lives on in the work of these modern masters of the art.