Saynte-Chapelle

From DQWiki
Jump to navigationJump to search

Saynte-Chapelle is the royal chapel of Eltrandor and is an imposing structure set in magnificent gardens beside Lake Eltran


Saynte-Chapelle has simple buttresses (an architectural innovation that allowed taller structures to be built) with gargoyles protruding from the top of every buttress to guide water away from the chapel walls.

The first impression is one of large room, illuminated by the huge and elegant lamps that create a light and bright atmosphere that is needed since little light reaches the lower chapel via the small and highly placed windows. The walls are decorated with blank trefoil arches, and its columns bear alternating designs of ancient Eltrandor's red rose designs on azure, and the golden tower on a blue lake motif of Eltran. An interesting feature is a series of interior columns that are the equivalents of flying buttresses. The ceiling of the lower chapel is painted to look like a starry sky, and the timeworn funerary slabs of the treasurers and canons of Saynte-Chapelle pave the floor.

The upper chapel is the glory of Saynte-Chapelle. Over 6,400 square feet of stained glass occupy the walls of the chapel, and at the west end is a beautiful and unusual rose window depicting an Apocalypse. The glass fills the chapel with scintillating jewels of light that is truly awe-inspiring. The interior height is almost twice the width of the chapel giving it an extremely lofty appearance due to forced perspective. The upper chapel was the shrine to St Adric and thus the attention to its design was extremely lavish. The buttresses appear to be non-existent in comparison to the sheer area of the windows, and they are carved to seem as if they are delicate clusters of smaller columns so their mass is hardly noticeable.