| On the eastern side of the bridge, across the street from the statue of Henri IV, red-brick seventeenth-century houses flank the entrance to place Dauphine, one of the city's most secluded and attractive squares. The noise of traffic recedes here to be replaced by nothing more intrusive than the gentle tap of boules being played in the shade of the chestnuts. The further end is blocked by the hulking facade of the Palais de Justice, which swallowed up the palace that was home to the French kings until Étienne Marcel's bloody revolt in 1358 frightened them off to the greater security of the Louvre. The only part of the old palace that remains in its entirety is the Sainte Chapelle (daily: April–Sept 9.30am–6.30pm; Oct–March 10am–5pm; €5.50, combined admission to the Conciergerie €8; Mº Cité), its fragile-looking spire soaring high above the Palais buildings and its excessive height in relation to its length giving it the appearance of a lopped-off cathedral choir. Though damaged in the Revolution, during which it was used as a flour warehouse, it was sensitively restored in the mid-nineteenth century, and remains one of the finest achievements of French High Gothic, renowned for its exquisite stained-glass windows. It was built by Louis IX in 1242–48 to house a collection of holy relics he had bought at an extortionate price – far more than it cost to build the Sainte Chapelle – from the bankrupt empire of Byzantium. The relics – supposedly Christ's crown of thorns and sections of the True Cross – are now kept in Notre-Dame's treasury and displayed every Good Friday. The Sainte Chapelle actually consists of two chapels: the rather dark lower chapel, with its star-painted ceiling, was intended for the servants, while the upper chapel, reached via a spiral staircase, was reserved for the court. The upper chapel is a truly dazzling sight, its walls made almost entirely of magnificent stained glass held up by powerful supports, which the medieval builders cleverly crafted to appear delicate and fragile by dividing them into clusters of pencil-thin columns. The glowing blues and reds of the stained glass dapple the interior giving the impression of being surrounded by a myriad brilliant butterflies. The windows, two-thirds of which are original, tell virtually the entire story of the Bible, beginning on the north side with Genesis and various other books of the Old Testament, continuing with the Passion of Christ (east end) and the history of the Sainte Chapelle relics (on the south side), and ending with the Apocalypse in the rose window. The chapel is frequently used for classical concerts, which offer a pleasant, unhurried way to drink in the splendour of the surroundings. It's best to buy tickets a little in advance if you can, otherwise you can end up queuing for a long time on the door.
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