The Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye (French pronunciation: [ʃɑto də sɛ̃ ʒɛʁmɛ̃ ɑ̃ lɛ]) is a royal palace in the commune of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, in the département of Yvelines, about 19 km west of Paris, France. Today, it houses the Musée d'Archéologie Nationale (Museum of National Archaeology).
The first castle, named the Grand Châtelet, was built on the site by Louis VI in around 1122. The castle was expanded by Louis IX of France in the 1230...
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The Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye (French pronunciation: [ʃɑto də sɛ̃ ʒɛʁmɛ̃ ɑ̃ lɛ]) is a royal palace in the commune of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, in the département of Yvelines, about 19 km west of Paris, France. Today, it houses the Musée d'Archéologie Nationale (Museum of National Archaeology).
The first castle, named the Grand Châtelet, was built on the site by Louis VI in around 1122. The castle was expanded by Louis IX of France in the 1230s.
Louis IX's chapelle Saint Louis at the castle belongs to the Rayonnant phase of French Gothic architecture. A 1238 charter of Louis IX instituting a regular religious service at the chapel that we first learn of a chapel having been built at the royal castle. This was a Sainte Chapelle, to house a relic of the Crown of Thorns or the True Cross. Its plan and architecture prefigure the major Sainte-Chapelle which Saint Louis built within the Palais de la Cité at Paris between 1240 and 1248. Both buildings were built by Louis's favourite...
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