Sainte-Chapelle

Sainte-Chapelle was constructed with a single, extravagant purpose that redefined the status of the French monarchy. King Louis the Ninth commissioned the building in the thirteen century to serve as a literal, physical reliquary for his most prized acquisitions: the Crown of Thorns and fragments of the True Cross. He purchased these holy relics from the Latin Emperor of Constantinople for a staggering one hundred and thirty-five thousand livres. To put that cost into perspective, the entire construction of the chapel itself cost only forty thousand livres, meaning the king spent more than three times the price of the building just to fill it with these sacred objects.