Saint Chapelle

Louis IX had Saint Chappelle built as a personal chapel attached to and for the use of the Royal Court. It was built in the High Gothic period and is often described as fully achieving the Rayonnant style. This included having a rose window, thinning the vertical support system, having large windows, and not being able to tell the triforium from the clerestory. There were goals in the Gothic period like the church feeling like a vehicle to heaven. A bigger goal was for the chapel to not feel as if it was from our world, but instead feel that the space was divine.
Besides the fact that blue paint and gold leafing was tremendously expensive at the time, its use was often a way to symbolize the divine. For example in churches Mary and baby Jesus would have been represented in gold and blue or red and gold so that from any place in the church the viewer would know that it was Mary and Jesus. Such a link is also used for Saint Chappelle to the divine. Another way they created a divine atmosphere was by having stained glass windows create walls of light. At certain times of the day, light would become a materialistic thing thus seeming like it was not part of our world. Saint Chappelle is a great example of High Gothic and Rayonnant Style artwork and architecture.

Citations:
Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. www.britannica.com. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2013. Web. 30 June 2013.
Saint - Chappelle. www.editions.monument-nationaux.fr. The Center of National Monuments, n/a. 30 June 2013.