In 1241, King Louis IX was 27 years old when he decided to build the Sainte Chapelle to house his great treasures: the relics of Christ. In the 13th century, the Kingdom of France was a nation prosperous in wealth and power. The popular and well-known Notre-Dame University was located in Paris and hosted more than 200,000 students from different cultures. “In 1237, the new Frankish emperor of the East, Baldwin II of Dourtenay, found himself faced with heavy expenses of an essentially military nature; he tried to respond by selling the relics of the Passion kept in Byzantium and which he had already partly promised to the Venetians” (Finance 4). In 1239, Louis bought from him the Holy Crown of Thorns and, two years later, fragments of the True Cross and other relics linked to Christ. King Louis IX was a model for all Christian kings, which reaffirmed his devotion to Christ, made his kingdom shine in Western Christianity, and supported the French Empire. “It is probable that from this date the king thought of building a monumental reliquary to properly shelter the precious relics within the palace grounds, in the manner of the Christian emperors of the East” (Finance 5). The Sainte Chapelle sparkles like a rare gem that boasts magnificent architecture and decoration; the stained glass windows seem to be inside a case. The many jewels seem to change color every hour with the bouncing rays of the sun. “The founder, King Louis IX, future Saint Louis, who had it built to house the Holy Relics of the Passion, today dispersed” (Finance 1). The spire has statues of Christ's apostles at the base of the spire and decorated corners above the apostles. The ......middle of paper ......Works cited: Léniaud, Jean-Michel and Françoise Perrot. The Sainte-Chapelle. Paris: Center des monuments nationaux, 2007. Print .Finance, Laurence de. The Sainte-Chapelle. Paris: Center des monuments nationaux, 2001. Print.Brew, Charl Anne. “The language of stained glass.” Arts and Activities 148.2 (2010): 30. MasterFILE completed. Internet. March 16, 2014. Weisse, Daniel H. “Architectural symbolism and decoration of the Sainte-Chapelle. » The Art Bulletin 77.2 (1995):308. Academic OneFile. Internet. April 7, 2014.Papanicolaou, Linda Morey. “Stained glass window in Tours Cathedral: the impact of the Sainte-Chapelle in the 1240s.” Journal of the Metropolitan Museum, Vol. 15, (1980): pages 53 to 66. Print. Cohen, Merdith. “An indulgence for the visitor: the public at the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris. » Speculum, Vol. 83, no. 4 (October 2008): pages 840 to 883. Print.