Paris Blog 9: St. Eustache, St. Chapelle

  Finally we come to two churches that are, besides Notre Dame, the most memorable.  St. Eustache was built during the Renaissance in a Gothic style, based on the model of Notre Dame, with five aisles, crossing, etc.  It has the largest organ in France, with 8000 pipes. The organwas rebuilt in 1989 under the direction of its famous organist, Jean Guillou, who evidently had enough clout to have a second console installed on the floor of the cathedral so that the audience could watch him perform.
  St. Chapelle could not be more different.  Small, by church standards in France, it was built for the exclusive use of the royal family of Louis IX in 1248, with a lower chapel for the servants and commoners.  It may be the most beautiful Gothic building ever created, with 15 stained glass windows soaring 50 feet, and depicting over 1000 religious scenes in every color possible at the time, including a lot of red, the most expensive.  No pipe organ, sadly, but where would you put it?
Perhaps a small portative organ is used for the very popular concerts in the lush acoustics. The Chapel was built as a reliquary for the crown of thorns, and a piece of the cross.  Louis bought them from the emperor of Constantinople, and paid three times as much for them as the cost of the chapel.

Saint-Eustache

The console on the floor of the sanctuary.

A 32-foot trombone!

A small organ for choir rehearsals and smaller occasions.

A scene dedicated to the memory of the market which existed since medieval times, but now no longer exists.

8000 Pipes

Sainte-Chapelle

Visitors enter by way of the lower chapel, quite lovely.

As the chapel looked in the 12th. century.

Lovely windows, but....

and then you climb a stone circular staircase, and walk out into this. 
I watched Barbara's face as she arrived, and it was great to see her reaction.

The stone statues at the top of the 12 pillars are the apostles,
some of the greatest, and well-preserved medieval stone carvings.

One of the carvings around the door

The floor, worn in many places.

What a miracle this wasn't damaged during the revolution.

The couple to my right were from Australia.  He was an architect, and we had the most
amazing conversation,  It was if we had known each other for years. They were celebrating his
70th birthday by going to a new restaurant opened by a chef who had worked for multi-Michelin restaurants, and
decided to open up his own place. They had reserved three months in advance.
Well!  That night Adeline took us to Sixieme Sens, a place she had reserved back in January,
and there they were!  The restaurant seated about 16.
And it was, in my opinion, the best meal out of many wonderful meals, of the week.
Brava, brava, Adeline!