Sainte Chapelle – a giant storyboard

Since we have been here in Paris we have revisited some of our favourite haunts. One that never ceases to amaze and delight us is Sainte Chapelle on the Ile de Cite.

Built in the 13th-century to house the religious relics brought to Paris by King Louis IX, its glorious stained glass windows reaching two floors up into the heavens, are like a giant storyboard. Across the fifteen panels all the well known stories of the Old Testament and some of the New Testament ones are progressively told, just as illustrators today record, in pictures, the main points of the stories they want to tell. The picture I took on this visit (above) shows a tiny fraction of the magnificent light and colour that surrounds you as you stand, feeling about as big as an ant, on the floor of the Upper Chapel and stare at the remarkable detail and artistry involved in telling these stories.

If you are ever in Paris make it top of your list of things to go and see.

Meanwhile I am working, each morning, on my ‘Flying Machines’ and visiting the Musee de les Art et Technologie to study some of the earliest ones, including the actual Bleirot XI in which M. Bleirot flew from Calais to Dover in 1909, becoming the first man to fly across the English Channel. The story of that amazing flight is full of humour, adventure and courage – but I’m afraid you will have to wait a while to read it. Stay with me, though. It’s on its way.

Cover of To See the World, published by The National Library of Australia

Even in Paris a review from Reading Time has reached me, thanks to my very good friend Ernie Tucker!

Here is the link, http://www.readingtime.com/see-world/. But if this doesn’t work for you just Google Reading Time review of To See the World. John D Adams’ review is very serious and knowledgable, which adds gravitas to the book and, I hope, will encourage schools to use it in their history programmes. The couple of sentences I have included below, just to give you a taste, come after John D Adams has filled in the historical background.

‘All this is the basis for this story of the voyage of the Uranie told for young readers by Jose who is taught to read and write by Rose.’ And later …

‘This reconstruction of a real voyage around the world provides for a most enjoyable, interesting and informative story … and is well recommended.’ John D Adams.

I will be back in Perth at the end of the month, just in time for the Celebrate Reading Conference at The Literature Centre. Meanwhile, happy reading.