Page 154 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Europe

152  FR ANCE AND THE L OW C OUNTRIES

Western end of the Ile de la Cité, where the island is crossed by the Pont Neuf
1 Ile de la Cité bridge in Paris, the Pont Neuf separated by pencil-like columns
(new bridge), which dates back soaring 15 m (50 ft) to the star-
q Châtelet, Cité. Conciergerie: 2 Blvd
du Palais. Tel 01-53 40 60 80. Open to 1578. The colorful Marché aux studded roof. More than 1,100
daily. Closed Jan 1, May 1, Dec 25. & Fleurs et Oiseaux takes place biblical scenes from the Old and
8 (phone to check). ∑ conciergerie. daily in the Place Louis Lépine New Testaments are depicted,
monuments-nationaux.fr and is the city’s most famous as well as the story of how the
flower market. On Sundays, relics were brought to Sainte-
This boat-shaped island on the caged birds are also sold. Chapelle. The 86 panels of the
Seine is the nucleus of Paris. The circular Rose Window, which are
capital’s name derives from the best seen at sunset, tell the
Parisii, one of the Celtic tribes 2 Notre-Dame story of the Apocalypse.
who lived here in the 3rd cent ury See pp154–5. Badly damaged during the
BC. The settlement was later Revolution, and converted into
expanded by the Romans, the a flour warehouse, the church
Franks, and the Capetian kings. 3 Sainte-Chapelle was renovated a century later
Remains of the earliest 4 Boulevard du Palais. Tel 01-53 40 60 by architect Viollet-le-Duc. The
buildings can be seen in the 80. q Cité. Open daily. Closed Jan 1, spire, erected in 1853, rises
Crypte Archéologique, below May 1, Dec 25. & 8 7 75 m (245 ft) into the air.
the square in front of Notre-
Dame cathedral, which stands Hailed as one of the great
at one end of the island. At the architectural masterpieces of
other end is another Gothic the Western world, this church
masterpiece: the Sainte-Chapelle was likened to “a gateway to
church, surrounded by the huge heaven” in the Middle Ages.
complex of buildings forming the Sainte-Chapelle was built in
Palais de Justice. One of these, 1248 to house sacred relics,
the sinister-looking Conciergerie, including Christ’s Crown of
was a prison from 1391 until Thorns, purchased from the
1914. During the French Revol- Byzantine emperor at great
ution, it filled to overflowing, and expense by the devout King
Marie-Antoinette was held in a Louis IX.
tiny cell here until her execution The church consists of two
in 1793. The Conciergerie has a chapels. The lower chapel was
superb Gothic Hall and a 14th- used by servants and minor
century clock tower. To the far officials, while the exquisite
east of the island, tiny Ile St Louis upper chapel, reached by
is a haven of riverside quays and means of a narrow, spiral
quiet streets. There are many fine staircase, was reserved for the
restaurants and chic shops here. royal family and courtiers. This
Crossing the western end of chapel has many glorious
the Ile de la Cité is the oldest stained-glass windows, The Gothic Sainte-Chapelle church
For hotels and restaurants see pp206–8 and pp209–11

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