of the vaults. The apse, once dark, was filled with light. The Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris also received a major makeover into the new style. Between 1220 and 1230, flying buttresses were constructed to replace the old wall buttresses, and to support the walls of upper level. Thirty-seven new windows were installed, each one six meters high, each with a double-arched window topped by a rose. (Twenty-five are still in place, twelve in the nave and thirteen in the choir.). The first rose window of Notre-Dame was built on the west facade in the 1220s. In the Middle Ages, the rose was the symbol of the Virgin Mary, to whom the cathedral was dedicated. The west window was smaller, with thick spokes of stone. The larger transept windows were added in about 1250 (north) and 1260 (south), with much more ornate designs and thinner mullions, or ribs, between the glass. The north window was devoted to the events of the Old Testament, and the South to the teachings of Christ and the New Testament. Le Mans and Tours Rayonnant spread quickly from the Ile de France to other parts of France Normandy, in many projects already under construction. At Le Mans Cathedral in Normandy, the Bishop Geoffrey de Loudon modified the plans to add double flying arches and high windows divided into lancets, as well as a circle of new Rayonnant chapels. Tours Cathedral had an even more ambitious program, financed with the assistance of Louis IX between 1236 and 1279. Its most striking Rayonnant feature was the fusion of the windows of the triforium and high clerestory windows to create a curtain of stained glass, similar to that of Sainte-Chapelle. Sainte-Chapelle Sainte-Chapelle, the chapel constructed by Louis IX for the relics of the Passion of Christ that he had brought back from the Crusades, consecrated in 1248, is considered the summit of the Rayonnant style. It served as a model of several similar chapels around Europe, in Aachen, Riom, and Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes at the edge of Paris. The glass was heavily coloured, the walls were brightly painted, and the portions of the walls not covered with glass were densely covered with sculpted and painted tracery. Rayonnant or "Decorated" in England An English version of the Rayonnant style began to appear in England in the middle of the 13th century. Later scholars gave the English version the term