-
More flights to launch connecting Var to Paris
Transavia will add two weekly return services from November
-
Hundreds of Bordeaux residents selected at random to take part in mairie’s decisions
Citizens will be able to raise neighbourhood concerns, suggest projects and advise on how local funds are spent
-
Brittany Ferries ends cross-Channel route earlier than planned
It comes as the ferry company expands capacity on Ireland routes
Visit restored Sainte-Chapelle
Tonight and tomorrow there are free visits to see the gothic church which has had seven years of restoration work
SPECIAL free night-time visits of the Sainte-Chapelle on Paris’s Ile-de-a-Cité are being organised tonight and tomorrow (Saturday) to mark the end of seven years of restoration work.
The visits, from 18.00 to 21.30, are a chance to see the full splendour of the stained glass windows for which the 13th century building is famous.
The chapel was built originally on the orders of King Louis IX (“Saint Louis”), to house relics including the alleged crown of thorns of Jesus and other items like the supposed lance which a soldier used to pierce his side and a sponge supposedly used to give him a drink. They cost him 135 000 livres, plus 100 000 for an elaborate silver chest to house them – the rest of the chapel cost 40 000.
Some of the relics went missing in the Revolution, but the remainder are now kept at the treasury of Notre-Dame de Paris, where they are guarded by the order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre.
