La COMBE DE SAVOIE – Site 19

Chambéry

La Sainte‐Chapelle (the Holy Chapel).
The chapel was erected at the decision of count Amédée VIII, who, eight years later, became the first duke of Savoy, the hermit of Ripaille and antipope Felix V. As the grandson on his mother’s side of John the Magnificent, the duke of Berry, and as the brother‐in‐law of the almighty duke of Burgundy, John the Fearless, Amédée VIII had to possess, in his castle, a chapel worthy of his ambitions. The remarkable Gothic apse built like the prow of a ship on the outer wall of the castle of Chambéry was erected by prime contractor Nicolas Robert. Claus de Werve, a famous artist at the court of the duke of Burgundy, is known for sculpting the decorations of the chapel. Yolande de France, the sister of Louis XI, subsequently commissioned the building of the bell tower, a tower which still bears her name today. Embellishment work was undertaken from 1511 to 1527 to better honour the relic of the Holy Shroud, which was kept in the Sainte‐Chapelle in a magnificent silverware shrine from 1506 onwards. On December 4, 1532, an accidental fire damaged the interior of the chapel and its stained‐glass windows. It took fifteen years for the stained‐glasses of the chancel to be replaced based on the sketches of Chambéry painter and chief herald Nicolas Masery, who drew his inspiration from a prominent painter of the Italian Renaissance, Le Sodoma. Except for a period of 25 years (from 1535 to 1561), the shroud remained in its place until 1578, when it was transferred to Turin on the orders of Emmanuel‐Philibert. In 2014, the diocese of Turin offered two full‐size copies. One is exhibited in the Sainte‐Chapelle and the other one in the Cathedral.