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Paris Tickets Sainte Chapelle Conciergerie About
The upper chapel of Sainte-Chapelle and its stained glass windows

What is the Conciergerie? Stained Glass, Royal Palace and Revolution

Two survivors of the first palace of the kings of France, side by side on the Île de la Cité. One is a chapel made almost entirely of light, the other a Gothic palace that became the last prison of the Revolution.

Visit

Visit one monument or both, with timed entry. Sainte-Chapelle and Conciergerie tickets

Location

Boulevard du Palais, Île de la Cité, 1st arrondissement. Directions

Visit duration

Allow 1 to 1.5 hours for the Conciergerie, plus time for Sainte-Chapelle. Plan your visit

Highlights

The stained glass of the upper chapel, the rose window, the Salle des Gens d’Armes and the Revolutionary prison.

Nearby

Notre-Dame, Place Dauphine, the Pont Neuf, Saint-Michel

What Is the Conciergerie, and What Is Sainte-Chapelle?

Both are what remains of the Palais de la Cité, the residence and seat of power of the kings of France in the Middle Ages. Sainte-Chapelle was built by Louis IX as a giant reliquary for the Crown of Thorns, and its walls are almost all glass. The Conciergerie holds the palace’s great Gothic halls, which became a prison at the end of the 14th century and, during the Revolution, the last stop before the guillotine. Between them they tell the story of a queen who ruled for her son and of the women who were tried here for their ideas.

Sainte-Chapelle and the Conciergerie in Numbers

Sainte-Chapelle was built in less than seven years and consecrated on 26 April 1248.

Its 15 windows rise 15 metres in the nave and hold 1,113 scenes from the Bible.

Two-thirds of the stained glass is original, making it the most complete set of 13th-century glass anywhere.

Louis IX paid 135,000 livres for the relics, about half the annual income of the kingdom.

The Salle des Gens d’Armes covers 1,785 square metres, the largest Gothic civil hall in Europe.

Between 1,000 and 2,000 royal servants and soldiers ate there every day.

The Palais de la Cité, First Palace of the Kings of France

The Conciergerie on the Seine, the last towers of the Palais de la Cité

A fortress stood on the western tip of the Île de la Cité from Roman times. With the Capetians it became a palace, and in the 13th and 14th centuries it grew into one of the most splendid royal residences in Europe.

Louis IX added Sainte-Chapelle, the Treasury of Charters and a gallery linking the chapel to his apartments. His grandson Philip the Fair rebuilt the palace on a grand scale, and his halls are the ones you walk through today in the Conciergerie.

In the 14th century the kings moved out, but the Parliament of Paris and the royal administration stayed, and the island remained the centre of French justice.

Sainte-Chapelle: The Crown of Thorns and the Stained Glass

The apse and stained glass windows of the Sainte-Chapelle upper chapel
Photo: Dudva, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

In 1239 Louis IX bought the Crown of Thorns from Baldwin II, the Latin emperor of Constantinople. Other relics followed, and he built Sainte-Chapelle to house them: an upper chapel for the king and his guests, and a lower one for the palace staff.

The walls of the upper chapel almost disappear behind 670 square metres of glass, which tell the story of the world from Genesis to the arrival of the relics in Paris.

The Revolution melted down the shrine, and the building became a flour store and then an archive. Victor Hugo was among those who campaigned to save it, and the restoration of 1840 to 1863 became a model for historic monuments across France.

The Conciergerie: From Royal Palace to Revolutionary Prison

The Conciergerie lit up at night

When the kings left, the concierge appointed to run the palace turned part of it into a prison, and the building took his name. From the 15th century it was one of the most important prisons in Paris.

In March 1793 the Revolutionary Tribunal moved into the palace. Prisoners were brought here to await trial, among them Marie-Antoinette, Danton and Lavoisier, and many women judged for their ideas, from Olympe de Gouges to Madame Roland.

The prison stayed in use long after the Revolution. Part of the monument opened to visitors in 1914, and the last prisoners left in 1934.

What to See in Sainte-Chapelle and the Conciergerie

The lower chapel of Sainte-Chapelle
Photo: Benh LIEU SONG, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Lower Chapel

The chapel of the palace staff, dedicated to Mary, with a painted blue and gold vault and 140 carved capitals.

The rose window of the Apocalypse in Sainte-Chapelle
Photo: Bradley Weber, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Rose Window

Nine metres wide and rebuilt around 1485. Only 9 of its 87 panels were restored in the 19th century.

The alcove of Queen Blanche of Castile in Sainte-Chapelle
Photo: Zairon, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Queen Blanche’s Alcove

A niche in the upper chapel dedicated to the king’s mother, set below the story of Esther.

The Salle des Gens d’Armes in the Conciergerie
Photo: Jean-Pierre Dalbéra, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Salle des Gens d’Armes

The vast refectory built by Philip the Fair, with four great fireplaces and vaults 8.5 metres high.

The expiatory chapel of Marie-Antoinette in the Conciergerie
Photo: Chatsam, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Expiatory Chapel

Built in 1816 on the site of Marie-Antoinette’s cell, at the end of the Revolutionary route.

Women of Sainte-Chapelle and the Conciergerie

The fountain of the Women’s Courtyard in the Conciergerie
Photo: Chatsam, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Women of the Conciergerie

The Women’s Courtyard has barely changed since the Revolution, and it is on the visit.

Portrait of Olympe de Gouges

Olympe de Gouges

Author of the Declaration of the Rights of Woman, guillotined in 1793 for her political writings.

Portrait of Charlotte Corday by Jean-Jacques Hauer

Charlotte Corday

She killed Marat and was held here before her execution, insisting that she had acted alone.

Portrait of Madame Roland by Johann Julius Heinsius

Madame Roland

The political mind of the Girondins, who wrote her memoirs in prison.

Portrait of Marie-Antoinette by Alexandre Kucharski

Marie-Antoinette

The queen spent her last ten weeks here, isolated from the other prisoners.

Castles of Castile and fleurs-de-lis carved in Sainte-Chapelle

Blanche of Castile

Twice regent of France. The castles of her arms fill the chapel, and Esther and Judith are shown above her alcove.

Visiting Sainte-Chapelle and the Conciergerie Together

Sainte-Chapelle stands inside the Palais de Justice, so security checks are strict and sharp objects and glass bottles are not allowed. Arrive on time for your slot, see the upper chapel while the light is on the windows, then cross to the Conciergerie, where the Histopad tablet brings the medieval palace and the Revolutionary prison back to life. The combined ticket covers both.

Entry Ticket to the Sainte Chapelle and the Conciergerie

Highlights

Visit the stunning Gothic Sainte-Chapelle featuring extraordinary stained glass windows.

Explore the Conciergerie, a former royal palace turned prison with deep revolutionary history.

Use the Histopad augmented reality device to experience the Conciergerie’s medieval and revolutionary history.

Enjoy priority entrance and skip the regular lines at both locations.

Discover the captivating stories behind Marie Antoinette’s imprisonment and King Louis IX’s relic collection.

Visit the Conciergerie

Highlights

Discover medieval prison cells from the French Revolution, including the famous cell of Queen Marie Antoinette.

Visit the grand Gothic Salle des Gens d’Armes, Europe’s largest surviving medieval hall.

Experience the haunting history of a building once known as the antechamber to the guillotine.

Explore the torture chamber in the Bonbec Tower, where prisoners were coerced to confess.

Enhance your visit with the Histopad, an augmented reality device revealing the palace’s past appearances.

Sainte-Chapelle and the Conciergerie in Pictures

The Conciergerie and the Seine
The stained glass of Sainte-Chapelle
Gothic pinnacles of Sainte-Chapelle
The Conciergerie at sunset
Arcades of the Women’s Courtyard in the Conciergerie

Questions About Sainte-Chapelle and the Conciergerie

What is the Conciergerie?

A surviving part of the medieval royal palace on the Île de la Cité, which became a prison and held Marie-Antoinette during the Revolution.

What is Sainte-Chapelle famous for?

Its 13th-century stained glass: 15 windows and 1,113 scenes, two-thirds of them original.

Why was Sainte-Chapelle built?

Louis IX built it to house the relics of the Passion he had bought, above all the Crown of Thorns.

Is the Crown of Thorns still in Sainte-Chapelle?

No. The shrine was melted down during the Revolution, and the Crown joined the treasury of Notre-Dame in 1806.

What was the Palais de la Cité?

The residence and seat of power of the kings of France in the Middle Ages. Sainte-Chapelle and the Conciergerie are what survive of it.

Who was Blanche of Castile?

The mother of Louis IX and twice regent of France. Her coat of arms appears throughout Sainte-Chapelle, which has an alcove dedicated to her.

Which women were imprisoned at the Conciergerie?

Among them were Marie-Antoinette, Olympe de Gouges, Charlotte Corday and Madame Roland.

Can you visit Sainte-Chapelle and the Conciergerie on the same day?

Yes. They stand next to each other on the Boulevard du Palais, and the combined ticket covers both.

How long does it take to visit the Conciergerie?

Allow between one hour and an hour and a half.

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