Sainte-Chapelle

The Sainte-Chapelle (English: Holy Chapel) is a royal medieval Gothic chapel located on the Île de la Cité in the center of Paris.

History
Sometime after 1239, construction began on the chapel to house the Christian relics of King Louis IX, including Jesus Christ's, which had been bought from Latin Emperor.

The chapel windows took up all the space between the structural supports, meaning that the stonework was seemingly invisble. The chapel stands out for being completed in 1248, meaning a relatively short construction period. It was set on two levels; the lower level was for Parisians and people of the court, while the upper level was for the king and his family. The crown of thorns was kept in a reliquary to which only the king held the key. On important occassions, he would present the crown to a kneeling congregation.

From around the late 12th century, the French Brotherhood of Assassins began using a cave underneath what would become the Saint-Chapelle as their headquarters. A mechanism on the second floor of the chapel directed sunlight, and when an Assassin medallion was placed in it, the chandeliers would rearrange, allowing the Assassin to reach a beam. Once there, a hole would open in the floor beneath, and the Assassin could perform a Leap of Faith into the sanctuary below.

The sanctuary connected to a series of tunnels beneath Paris, which allowed the Brotherhood to easily navigate the city. Around 1759, a passage was also built between the sanctuary and the Café Théâtre, a business front for the Assassins. In April 1791, Arno Dorian discovered that his fellow Assassin Pierre Bellec had murdered the Mentor Honoré Mirabeau. A swordfight ensued between the two Assassins at the chapel, ending in Bellec's death and burial inside the building.

During the French Revolution, the chapel came close to being demolished, but would eventually see use as a flour store, a club room for the revolutionary part of Paris and finally a store for archiving old papers. Since this served the populace, the chapel was spared destruction. Until 1837, it bore a sign saying "National property, for sale". By this point, all the sacred vessels and precious books had long since disappeared.

At some point, the Templar Order acquired several Assassin artifacts from the chapel sanctuary. The sanctuary would be explored by the Templar agent Percy Westcreek in 2014.