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 famous and famous Notre Dame University was located in Paris and was home to over 200,000 students from many different cultures. “In 1237, the new Frankish emperor of the East, Baldwin II de Dourtenay, found himself facing huge expenses of a predominantly military nature; he tried to satisfy them by selling the Relics of the Passion which were kept in Byzantium and which he had already partially pledged to the Venetians” (Finances 4). In 1239, Louis purchased the Holy Crown of Thorns from him and two years later purchased fragments of the True Cross and other relics related to Christ from him. King Louis IX was a model for all Christian kings, and this reaffirmed his devotion to Christ, made his reign shine in Western Christendom, and supported the French empire. “It is probable that starting from this date the king thought of building a monumental reliquary to house the precious relics with dignity within the palace enclosure, modeled on the Christian emperors of the East” (Finances 5). The Sainte Chapelle shines like a rare jewel with magnificent architecture and decorations; the stained glass windows appear to be inside a jewel box. The numerous jewels appear to change color every hour with the sun's rays bouncing back and forth. “The founder, King Louis IX, the future Saint Louis, who had it built to guard the Holy Relics of the Passion, now lost” (Finances 1). The spire has statues of Christ's apostles at the base of the spire and has decorated corners above the apostles. The......middle of the sheet......Works cited: Leniaud, Jean-Michel and Françoise Perrot. The Holy Chapel. Paris: Center des monuments nationals, 2007. Press .Finance, Laurence de. The Sainte-Chapelle. Paris: Center des monuments nationals, 2001. Print.Brew, Charl Anne. “The language of stained glass windows”. Arts and Activities 148.2 (2010): 30. Complete MasterFILE. Network. March 16, 2014. Weisse, Daniel H. "Architectural Symbolism and the Decoration of the Ste.-Chapelle." L'Arte Bulletin 77.2 (1995):308. Academic OneFile. Network. April 7, 2014.Papanicolaou, Linda Morey. “Stained Glass of Tours Cathedral: The Impact of the Sainte-Chapelle in the 1240s.” Journal of the Metropolitan Museum, vol. 15, (1980): pp. 53-66. Print.Cohen, Merdith. “An Indulgence for the Visitor: The Audience at the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris.” Speculum, vol. 83, no. 4 (October 2008): pp. 840-883. Press.