The interior consists almost entirely of large and lofty windows, with
magnificent stained glass, in large part ancient. The piers which divide
the windows and alone support the graceful vault of the roof, are provided
with statues of the twelve apostles, a few of them original. Each bears
his well-known symbol. Spell them out if possible. Beneath the windows, in
the quatrefoils of the arcade, are enamelled glass mosaics representing
the martyrdoms of the saints--followers of Christ, each wearing his own
crown of thorns: a pretty conceit wholly in accord with St. Louis's
ecstatic type of piety. Conspicuous among them are St. Denis carrying his
head, St. Sebastian pierced with arrows, St. Stephen stoned, St. Lawrence
on his gridiron, etc. The apse (formerly separated from the body of the
building by a rood-screen, now destroyed), contains the vacant base of the
high altar, behind which stands an arcaded tabernacle, now empty, in whose
shrine were once preserved the Crown of Thorns, the fragment of the True
Cross, and other relics.
Among them in the later times was included the skull of St.
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