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treasurer and the canons set about the task of securing the chapel’s most sacred relics, located in
the grande chasse on the high altar and directly under the burning trusses. Since the great
reliquary was locked, the religious had to force it open and move the holy objects within it to the
sacristy. Saving the relics, which included a number of relics of Christ’s Passion, was of critical
importance because they had made the Sainte-Chapelle a locus sanctus, turning Paris into the
New Jerusalem. 33 Louis IX, who built the thirteenth-century chapel to house the relics, wanted
to establish France as the successor to the Holy Land. Not only did the relics entitle Louis IX to
claim that he and all subsequent French kings were the leaders of a new chosen land, they also
functioned as sacred objects with the power to protect the dynasty and kingdom. 34
Although Louis XIII was visiting Lyon at the time of the fire, upon receiving word of the
disaster he quickly set about making decisions and allocating royal funds for the repairs, which
would include rebuilding the roof and steeple. Anne Le Pas de Sécheval has argued that the
rapid response to the Sainte-Chapelle fire provided Louis XIII with an opportunity to show his
reverence for St. Louis. 35 While the king’s devotion to his ancestor certainly prompted action, it
was likely due to more than personal veneration. Instead, the eminent position retained by the
Sainte-Chapelle in seventeenth-century France forced Louis XIII to act quickly to secure the
building housing the Passion relics. Through the process of restoring the chapel, the king
rediscovered that the building sheltering the kingdom’s palladium functioned as a political tool,
symbolizing France’s continued position as the chosen land.
The high regard in which the Sainte-Chapelle was held in the seventeenth century is
evident from a variety of sources. In addition to claiming that the chapel was second only to the
cathedral of Notre-Dame in worthiness of being seen, authors of contemporary guidebooks
commended it for the collection of holy relics. 36 Among these were the crown of thorns, a piece
of the true cross, iron from the lance, a portion of the sponge, part of Christ’s robe, and nails
from the cross. 37 The authors credited the acquisition of each sacred object to the pious St.
Louis, who was praised for creating a chapel that not only represented royalty but appeared to be
designed by “a hand more than human.” 38 The kingdom’s comparison to the Holy Land even
still held sway, as shown in writings by Jean-Pierre Camus, the Bishop of Belley, who in 1620
praised France as the New Jerusalem. 39
The importance of the Sainte-Chapelle to the Bourbon dynasty remained so great that
Louis XIV used the thirteenth-century building as the principal source of inspiration for his
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