Tea at Trianon: Sainte-Chapelle Restored

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, September 14, 2015

Sainte-Chapelle Restored

From Aleteia:

After eight years of restoration, the Sainte-Chapelle (translated as “Holy Chapel” in English) is finally free of scaffolding.

Nestled in the Conciergerie, the Paris Courthouse located on the island of the City, the chapel one could easily miss this architectural gem, the height of which rivals most slender cathedrals. Sainte-Chapelle features over 750 m² of stained glass dating from the thirteenth century, grouping 1,113 scenes from the Old Testament. The restoration of the windows costs more than 9 million euros, and the result is spectacular.

The royal medieval chapel is considered a masterpiece of High Gothic architecture. Built between 1242 and 1248 it was commissioned by King Louis IX of France to house relics of Christ’s Passion, including the wood of the True Cross and the nails of the Passion and the Crown of Thorns. (Read more.)

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