Stained glass window Chartres Cathedral in France. Chartres Cathedral, the acropolis of France. Opening hours and ticket prices

western facade

Chartres Cathedral is a Catholic cathedral located in the city of Chartres in the prefecture of the department of Eure et Loire. It is located 90 km southwest of Paris and is one of the masterpieces of Gothic architecture. In 1979, the cathedral was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

The city of Chartres was founded on the site of the Celtic settlements, which eventually came under the influence of Rome. Christianity in Chartres was officially adopted around 350 AD.

At the site of the cathedral, there was originally a church and a bishop's house. The remains of the Roman walls at the base of the cathedral indicate that it was built on the site of pagan rituals.

The waves of devastating barbarian invasions that plundered and destroyed the city ceased with a decisive victory in the battle of 911. This was followed by a period of prosperity that culminated in the twelfth century.

By that time, the city had expanded to those boundaries that it later occupied until the nineteenth century.

The beginning of the veneration of the Mother of God in Chartres took place at the beginning of the seventh century, but it became one of the main centers of pilgrimage in Europe after Charles the Bald in 876. Due to the close connection with the name of Mary, in the cathedral, unlike other churches, burials and accommodation were not placed tombs.

In the narrow streets of Chartres, there are buildings that have survived from the time of Roman rule, and old half-timbered houses of the 12th century. There are also arched bridges and picturesque views of the canal. But the main pride of Chartres is the two-domed handsome cathedral, decorated with amazing blue stained-glass windows. Its huge sharp spire is visible from every corner of the city - behind the houses, in the gaps of the streets and from the windows of the houses.

On the site of the Chartres Cathedral, there has long been a sanctuary of the Druids - Celtic priests. In the 8th century there already existed an altar built in honor of St. Mary of Chartres, and in 876 one of the most precious relics of Christianity appeared in Chartres - the shroud (veil) of the Virgin. Tradition says that it was in this robe that the Virgin Mary was dressed at the time of the birth of J. Christ. In Chartres, the relic ended up thanks to the French king Charles II the Bald, who donated it to the city temple.

View of the southern facade of the building

In 1194, a fire broke out in the city, which almost completely destroyed the first cathedral of Chartres, built in 1020, but the casket where the shrine was kept miraculously survived, and this event was considered a sign from above.

The construction of the new cathedral began immediately after the fire. Donations poured in from all over France. On the wave of enthusiasm, city dwellers worked for free in quarries.

The project of the previous building was taken as a basis, in which the remaining parts of the old building were inscribed. Compared to other Gothic temples that have been built for centuries, Chartres Cathedral was created in record time.

By 1220, the main part of the building was ready, and on October 24, 1260, the temple was consecrated in the presence of King Louis IX. Some sources claim that the grand construction was financed by the knights of the Knights Templar.

Supporters of this hypothesis believe that the mysterious labyrinth of 1205, lined with mosaics on the floor of the cathedral, is marked with the symbols of the Templars, which are also present on some other interior details.

The three-nave building is a Latin cross in plan with a short three-aisled transept and ambulatory. The eastern part of the temple has several semicircular radial chapels.

Three of them protrude noticeably beyond the ambulatory semicircle, the remaining four have a shallower depth.

At the time of construction, the vaults of Chartres Cathedral were the highest in France, which was achieved through the use of flying buttresses based on buttresses.

Additional flying buttresses supporting the apse appeared in the 14th century. Chartres Cathedral was the first to use this architectural element in its construction, which gave it a completely unprecedented external outline, increased the size of the window openings and the height of the nave (36 meters).

View from the tower of the cathedral to the east

north tower

A feature of the appearance of the cathedral are its two very different towers. The 105-meter spire of the southern tower, built in 1140, is made in the form of a simple Romanesque pyramid.

south tower

The north tower, 113 meters high, has a base left over from a Romanesque cathedral, and the spire of the tower appeared at the beginning of the 16th century and is made in the flamboyant Gothic style.

Chartres Cathedral has nine portals, three of which are preserved from the old Romanesque cathedral

The northern portal dates from 1230 and contains sculptures of Old Testament characters. The south portal, created between 1224 and 1250, uses New Testament scenes with a central composition dedicated to the Last Judgment.

The West Portal of Christ and the Virgin Mary, better known as the Royal Portal, dates from 1150 and is famous for its 12th-century depiction of Christ in Glory.

The entrances to the north and south transepts are decorated with sculptures from the 13th century. In total, the decoration of the cathedral has about 10,000 sculptural images of stone and glass.

On the south side of the cathedral there is an astronomical clock of the 16th century. Until the clockwork broke in 1793, they showed not only the time, but also the day of the week, month, sunrise and sunset times, the phases of the moon, and the current sign of the zodiac.

The Royal Portal, built around 1150, survived a fire in 1194.

Its three entrance doors are surrounded by some of the finest examples of European Gothic sculpture.

The figures are located next to the surface of the façade wall.

Relying on thin high columns, they frame door jambs, lintels, lancet arches and tympanums.

Almost the entire outer wall is decorated with bas-reliefs. The figures in the tympanum represent Jesus, the Old Testament ancestors, prophets and kings. With the exception of Moses, it is difficult to visually attribute the figures.

Of the original twenty-four figures, nineteen are currently represented. The rest were moved to the museum and replaced with copies. The elegance and aristocracy of their appearance for the Gothic tradition remained unsurpassed.

All sculptures of the portal (as well as the entire cathedral as a whole) have become an integral part of the architecture.

At present, it is not possible to decipher the secret meaning of the Gothic symbols of plots and sculptures of the Chartres Cathedral.

The well-known School of Chartres, led by Bernard of Chartres and his brother Thierry (author of a book on the seven liberal arts), became one of the main centers of the twelfth century intellectual renaissance. Here attempts were made to logically "reconcile" the works of Aristotle and Plato with the Bible.

Their reflection was embodied in the interpretation of the plots of the figures on the Royal Portal of the Cathedral. Presented in a tympanum, the majestic figure of Christ is surrounded by the symbols of the four evangelists (bull, lion, eagle and angel). The plot, in all likelihood, depicts the Last Judgment, however, no suffering of souls is presented.

The tympanum above the right door represents the story of the birth and childhood of Jesus. In its center is the figure of the Mother of God on a throne with the baby Jesus on her knees.

In the arch around them are the symbols of the seven liberal arts and the figures of antiquity associated with them: Taken together, the sculptures from the face of Jesus call for a balance of an active lifestyle (work) with an intellectual life (research) and spiritual knowledge (church with a university).

No less remarkable is the interior of the cathedral. The spacious nave, which has no equal in all of France, rushes to the magnificent apse located in the eastern part of the cathedral.

The four-sided diagonal ribs of the ribs in the ceilings of the cathedral in each compartment have an X-shape in plan.

In contrast to the common system with six-sided placement of ribs, this made it possible to more evenly distribute the load on the columns. Architectural changes also affected buttresses and flying buttresses.

Instead of large bypass galleries (as in the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris), darkening the interior and preventing the perception of the church service for the parishioners in them, low and narrow aisles (triforums) were made in Chartres. While maintaining the stability of the structure as a whole, this made it possible to significantly increase the vertical dimensions of the windows in the main space of the cathedral.

Martin's chapel

pilar chapel

The visual lightness of the buttresses and flying buttresses in Chartres Cathedral is unique. Arranged in three levels along the main nave, the buttresses work like spokes in a wheel, engaging the two rows of lower arches. In general, this increases the effect of "dematerialization" of the perception of the design of the choir and apse.

The vaulted gallery of the ambulatory goes around the choir and the chancel, which are separated from the rest of the space by a carved wall. The wall appeared at the beginning of the 16th century and for the next two centuries was gradually decorated with carved figures depicting scenes from the life of Christ and the Virgin.

The cathedral is famous for its colorful stained-glass windows, the total area of which is about 2000 m2.

The ensemble of Chartres stained-glass windows is absolutely unique: 146 windows depict 1359 different scenes. They tell about biblical events and about the lives of people of all classes - kings, knights, artisans, peasants. Apart from the large stained-glass windows on the window roses of the main façade and the transepts, the most famous is the stained-glass window with Our Lady in a unique hue, "chartres blue".

Fragment of the stained-glass window "Virgin of beautiful glass"

North transept rose window

rose on the west front

In addition to large stained-glass roses on the western facade, south and north transepts, the most famous are the stained-glass window of 1150 "The Virgin of Beautiful Glass" and the composition "The Tree of Jesse".

The construction of the rose at the north end of the transept was paid for by Blanca of Castile, granddaughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine.

A distinctive feature of the stained-glass windows of Chartres Cathedral is the extreme saturation and purity of colors, the secret of which has been lost. Scenes from the Bible and everyday life organically coexist in their stories. The latter is represented mainly by the environment of bakers and aristocrats, i.e. people who financed the construction.

A large number of characters and plots give reason to consider stained glass windows as a kind of illustrated encyclopedia of medieval life. The stained-glass windows have darkened greatly with time, but some of them (from the western facade), restored in the 1980s, testify to how brilliant they were in their time. All three Gothic roses of the cathedral are also outstanding works of art.

The floor of the cathedral is decorated with an ancient labyrinth from 1205. It symbolizes the believer's path to God and is still used by pilgrims for meditation. There is only one way through this labyrinth of the cathedral. The size of the labyrinth almost coincides with the size of the window rose of the western facade (but does not repeat it exactly, as many mistakenly believe), and the distance from the western entrance to the labyrinth is exactly equal to the height of the window.

The labyrinth has eleven concentric circles, the total length of the path through the labyrinth is approximately 260 meters. In its center is a flower with six petals, the contours of which resemble the roses of a cathedral.

The facade of the cathedral is “carved” with bas-reliefs, and the interior is decorated with sculptures carved from stone. In total, there are 10,000 sculptural compositions in Notre Dame de Chartres.

thorn of the cathedral west facade

They are the best sculptural examples of High Gothic.

At the same time, one can also judge from them how the attitude towards sculpture changed over the seventy years after the completion of the construction of the Royal Portal.

The sculptures on the western façade are still part of the architecture with which they are physically connected. Sculptures of a later time are independent of architecture, have more realistic proportions and a portrait personality.

The sacristy was added to the cathedral at the end of the thirteenth century. Its roof is crowned with a chapel. In 1506, instead of the northern tower of the western facade, destroyed by lightning, a new one was built, with a stone spire. Stylistically, it is the opposite of the Romanesque, located on the south side. However, symmetry was not important to medieval architecture, which valued a "dynamic balance of contrasts". In 1836, after a fire, seven wooden rafters were replaced with metal ones - one of the first large-span metal structures in France.

Its majestic silhouette still dominates the city and the surrounding landscape, where, like 800 years ago, wheat is grown. Chartres Cathedral is one of the largest Gothic structures. Its nave is over 17 meters wide, larger than any cathedral in France, including Notre Dame in Paris and the cathedral in Amiens. The vaults of Chartres rise above the floor at a height of more than 40 meters. Its length (occupying an entire city block) exceeds 150 meters, and the transept stretches for 70 meters.

Rodin called Chartres Cathedral the French Acropolis.
The American Institute of Architects regularly allocates significant funds for the preservation and restoration of the cathedral. It is amazing how such a small city as Chartres (with a population of hardly more than 5,000 people at the beginning of the 13th century) could build such a significant structure at great expense. But, Chartres is a wealthy city and provincial center that still produces most of the wheat in France.

Address: France, Chartres, Cloître Notre Dame street, 16
Start of construction: 1194
Completion of construction: 1260
Coordinates: 48°26′50″N,1°29′16″E
Tower height: northern 113 m., southern 105
Main attractions: stained glass windows of the 12th-13th centuries

Content:

Only 1 hour by train from Paris, and the passenger stays in a quiet charming province - Chartres.

In the narrow streets of Chartres, there are buildings that have survived from the time of Roman rule, and old half-timbered houses of the 12th century. There are also arched bridges and picturesque views of the canal. But the main pride of Chartres is the two-headed handsome cathedral, decorated with amazing blue stained-glass windows. Its huge sharp spire is visible from every corner of the city - behind the houses, in the gaps of the streets and from the windows of restaurants.

West facade of the cathedral

Shroud of the Virgin Mary - relic of Chartres Cathedral

On the site of the Chartres Cathedral, there has long been a sanctuary of the Druids - Celtic priests. In the 8th century, there already existed an altar built in honor of St. Mary of Chartres, and in 876, one of the most precious relics of Christianity appeared in Chartres - the shroud (veil) of the Virgin.

Tradition says that it was in this robe that the Virgin Mary was dressed at the time of the birth of J. Christ. In Chartres, the relic ended up thanks to the French king Charles II the Bald, who donated it to the city temple.

View of the southern facade of the building

Record short construction

The construction of the new cathedral began immediately after the fire. Donations poured in from all over France. On the wave of enthusiasm, city dwellers worked for free in quarries. Compared to other Gothic temples that took centuries to build, Chartres Cathedral was built in record time.

View of the north and south towers of Chartres Cathedral

Sculptures and stained glass - treasures of Chartres Cathedral

South porch of Shart Cathedral

The grandiose Gothic temple, called Notre Dame de Chartres has survived to this day almost in the form in which it was built 800 years ago. The two towers of Chartres Cathedral are strikingly different from each other. The 113-meter North Tower rises on an ancient Gothic base and has an openwork spire, decorated with intricate stone lace. The south tower, 105 meters high, is crowned with a simple Romanesque spire in the shape of a pyramid. The facade of the cathedral is “carved” with bas-reliefs, and the interior is decorated with sculptures carved from stone.

North porch of Shart Cathedral

In total, there are 10,000 sculptural compositions in Notre Dame de Chartres. Inside the cathedral - colored stained-glass windows of the XII-XIII centuries. The ensemble of Chartres stained-glass windows is absolutely unique: 146 windows depict 1359 different scenes. They tell about biblical events and about the lives of people of all classes - kings, knights, artisans, peasants. Apart from the large stained-glass windows on the window roses of the main façade and the transepts, the most famous is the stained-glass window with Our Lady in a unique hue, "chartres blue".

The Gothic style originated in the 12th century in northern France, from where it spread across Western Europe from Spain to the Czech Republic. In each country, under the influence of local traditions, the new style acquired its own characteristics. It is deservedly considered the purest embodiment of the classical principles of Gothic, one of the greatest masterpieces of medieval architecture in Europe and magnificent architectural. The slender, graceful building was built on a hill and seems to hover over the city, for which the cathedral is sometimes called " France". In 1979, he was included in.

Chartres hill and its temples

The hill dominating over Chartres has always been the location of places of worship. Before the Roman conquest, the city was the main settlement of the Gallic Carnut tribe, and on the hill there was a sanctuary of the Druids, known throughout Gaul. In the 4th century, Christians expelled the Druids and built a chapel on the site of the sanctuary. One temple replaced another, and the current cathedral, according to archaeological excavations, is at least the fifth Christian religious building on this site.

The first Christian church of Chartres fell victim to civil strife - in 734 the troops of the Duke of Aquitaine plundered and burned the city. The temple was also burned down. The church was restored, but in 858 it was again destroyed by the Vikings during another devastating raid.

After that, the then Bishop of Chartres, Gilbert, decided to build a cathedral in the then dominant Romanesque style on the site of the old church. Construction lasted for decades and was repeatedly interrupted. So, in 862, everything that they managed to build died in another fire.

In 859, Chartres was visited by King Charles the Bald, who presented the bishop with a shrine - the Protection of the Virgin Mary. Tradition said that this robe was on the Mother of God at the birth of Jesus. The cover was supposed to be placed in the cathedral reliquary upon completion of construction.

The shrine has repeatedly shown its miraculous power. So, in 911, Chartres was again besieged by the Vikings. Hoping for the help of the Mother of God, the then Bishop Gentelme carried the Veil to the walls of the city, and the Normans suddenly left. Another miracle was revealed in 1194, when a terrible three-day fire almost destroyed the entire city. The temple burned out almost completely, except for the chapel, where there was a casket with a relic. The priests guarding the casket also survived.

The architect Bernage, who led the construction after 862, decided to build the western, main facade separately from the main building of the cathedral. It was a very unusual decision, but it was it that saved the facade from the fire of 1194. Later, towers were added to it, made according to the Gothic canons.

The townspeople perceived the miraculous rescue of the relic as a clear indication from above, and they immediately set about building a new church with enthusiasm. The news of the miracle spread around France with lightning speed, and volunteers arrived in Chartres from all over the country in droves who wanted to participate in a charitable cause. Donations poured in from everywhere. The construction was headed by the best architects of that time, sent from the Parisian Abbey of Saint-Denis.

All this explains the record completion time for the Middle Ages. The sandstone from which the walls of the cathedral are built was delivered from the Bercher quarries in the vicinity of Chartres. The surviving Romanesque facade was decided to be built into a new building. By 1220, the cathedral was covered with vaults, and in 1225, work on the internal arrangement of the temple was completed, chapels, choirs and a transept appeared.

The consecration ceremony of the temple took place in 1260. The consecration was attended by Louis IX, who made a wonderful gift to the cathedral. At the king's own expense, a magnificent rose window was created with a stained-glass window depicting the Last Judgment and episodes from the life of the Virgin. The stained-glass window also depicted the coats of arms of France and Castile (the king's mother, Blanca, was the daughter of King Alfonso of Castile).

Chartres Cathedral, officially called now Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres (Notre Dame de Chartres), escaped the fate of its famous counterparts in and and has never been significantly destroyed or rebuilt. The northern tower can be considered an exception to some extent. Initially, it was crowned with a wooden tent that burned down in the 16th century. In 1513, under the leadership of Jean Texier, a stone tent was built, covered with a bizarre pattern characteristic of the “flaming” Gothic. You should also pay attention to the amazing and, Germany.

Acropolis of France

Feelings when looking at the skyward Notre Dame de Chartres are really something akin to the feeling that arises when meeting with the Acropolis. The poet Charles Péguy once spoke very figuratively, calling the cathedral "the strongest of the ears of corn that rose to the sky."

The cathedral is a three-aisled basilica with a short transept. The length of the building is 130 m, the width of the central nave is 16 m, the width of two side naves is 8 m each. The height of the arch of the main nave is 37 m, the side naves are 14 m.

The western façade is the oldest part of the cathedral. Initially, it was solid, and three magnificent portals were built later, already during the construction of a new building. Particularly impressive is the central portal, called the Royal, above which is placed a wonderful sculptural group "Christ in Glory". The figure of Jesus blessing is surrounded by statues of saints, biblical characters and fantastic animals.

All nine portals of the cathedral are generously decorated with sculptural and relief images. Of particular interest is the relief of the main portal of the southern façade. Created at the dawn of the 13th century, it depicts an exceptionally dramatic picture of the Last Judgment. Due to its tension and expressiveness, this relief is considered the most striking example of Gothic fine art in the world.

Sculptures of the central portal of the northern facade stand somewhat apart. They clearly have an older origin than the other statues, as they are made in the Romanesque tradition. In addition, the bright individual features of many statues suggest that the unknown sculptor portrayed some specific people, which is unusual for Romanesque church art, bound by strict canons.

The number of sculptures placed inside and outside the Chartres Cathedral exceeds 10 thousand. No temple in Europe can boast of such an abundance.

The most noticeable part of the cathedral when viewed from afar are its towers, which are stylistically distinct from each other. The northern one, 113 m high, was built on a Roman foundation in 1134-1150. She is 11 meters taller than her neighbor, thanks to a late Gothic tent built in the 16th century. Access to the north tower is open, and every visitor to the cathedral considers it his duty to enjoy the magnificent view of Chartres and the surrounding area from its top.

The south tower, nicknamed the "Old Bell Tower", is 15 years younger. It is stylistically united with the entire cathedral and looks much more restrained than the northern one. For impeccable proportions and grace, the Old Bell Tower is considered one of the most beautiful towers in the world.

Interiors of the Cathedral of Chartres

The interiors of the cathedral are not inferior to its appearance in terms of the strength of the impression made on the viewer. The unusually spacious choirs required a significant expansion of the transept, while the altar had to be moved deeper into the apse. This innovation made the interior of the temple more spacious and seemed to be filled with air and light.

Vaults and arches have a typical lancet shape for Gothic. The vaults are supported by columns, each of which is additionally reinforced by four thin semi-columns.

The huge altar carved out of wood is striking in its size. Its construction, begun in 1514, lasted about two hundred years. On the altar there are more than forty scenes from the life of Christ and the Virgin Mary, executed with great skill.

Stained glass windows create a special atmosphere of the temple. From the outside, they seem almost colorless, while inside the sun's rays penetrating through the windows create an indescribable riot of colors. Chartres Cathedral has the largest of the surviving medieval stained glass ensembles - the total area of its stained glass windows is about 2000 square meters. m. At the same time, almost all stained-glass windows have come down to us in their original form, without being restored or altered.

The palette of Chartres stained-glass windows is dominated by red, blue and lilac colors. At the same time, thanks to the tricks of the masters, in sunny weather, red and yellow flashes appear on the columns and the floor of the cathedral from time to time, and in cloudy weather the cathedral is filled with an even bluish shimmer. Another "highlight" of the local stained-glass windows is the blue color of a unique shade, known as "Chartres blue" or "Chartres blue".

Rose windows are a very expressive element of the architecture of the cathedral. Among them is the famous Saint Louis rose, whose diameter is 13 meters. In total, the cathedral has 176 stained-glass windows, which contain 1359 scenes. Chartres stained-glass windows are often called an illustrated book, due to the huge variety of subjects. In addition to biblical scenes, there are monarchs, representatives of the nobility and clergy, merchants and commoners.

Sacred relics of Notre Dame de Chartres

Since its inception, Chartres Cathedral has attracted pilgrims from all over Europe. First of all, they went to look, of course, at the Holy Veil. Initially, it had a length of 5.5 meters, but during the years of the French Revolution, when churches were repeatedly subjected to pogroms, the fabric was cut into several fragments and hidden in different places to protect it from raging sans-culottes. In 1819, the largest fragment was returned to the cathedral. Now the Veil appears before the viewer in the form of a strip of beige silk, its length is 2 m, width 46 cm.

In the age of the triumph of science, inevitably there were those who wanted to verify the authenticity of the Intercession. An examination conducted in 1927 showed that he was much older than expected. As it turned out, the fabric was made in the 1st century AD. e. The decision of the experts was a compromise - it was proposed to consider that there is no evidence that the cover was on Mary during the birth of Jesus, but there is also no evidence to the contrary.

Another relic of the cathedral was the so-called "Black Mary", a wooden figurine depicting the Mother of God when she carried Jesus under her heart. The figurine burned down during a pogrom in the revolutionary year of 1789, but several drawings have survived. Historians believe that the figurine, clearly archaic in silhouette, was created in the first centuries of Christianity. Some researchers generally believe that the figurine was carved in the pagan period and does not depict Mary at all.

Another object of attraction for pilgrims was the labyrinth called "The Way to Jerusalem". It is laid out of colored stone tiles in the center of the temple and looks like a circle with a diameter of 13 meters and a path length of 261 meters. This is exactly how much, according to church tradition, Jesus Christ had to go during his ascent to Golgotha. Pilgrims who did not have the opportunity to bow to the Holy Sepulcher, but who wanted to repent and receive absolution, could come to Chartres and kneel all the way through the labyrinth, reciting prayers.

And today pilgrims go to Chartres Cathedral, as well as historians, art historians, lovers of antiquity, connoisseurs of beauty, just tourists. The meeting with Notre Dame de Chartres leaves none of them disappointed or indifferent.

Also, from April to September, the evening Chartres becomes a platform for a light show with musical accompaniment, in which all the remarkable buildings of the city “participate”, and the Cathedral plays the main role in an unforgettable performance. The final chord of the show falls on the second half of September, when the Holiday of Illumination begins, lasting several days.

- (French: Cathédrale Notre Dame de Chartres) is the most famous monument of the city of Chartres, a prefecture of the Eure et Loire department, located 96 km southwest of Paris. The cathedral is considered one of the finest Gothic buildings. Modern gothic ... ... Catholic Encyclopedia

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A World History of Architecture, Viollet-le-Duc Eugene Emmanuel. Architecture forms our whole life: it creates not only the appearance of the city, but also the sense of self of a person in its space. Like any other art, architecture is extremely diverse: for…

In such a small town as Chartres, which has retained the scale of a medieval low city, you better understand what the cathedral meant to the townspeople. It was the center of the city, a place where everyone gathered and a building in which a person got the opportunity to join the beauty of art and the wisdom of biblical texts. Architecture, sculpture, stained glass, music - all this created a magical effect.
Fate was favorable to the Chartres Cathedral, it was preserved without alterations and brought to us the integral appearance of the Gothic temple.
Its finished construction stands in anticipation of the heyday of Classical French Gothic. The Chartres Cathedral was created by people who worked with enthusiasm, faith and sincere inspiration. He is an example of the understanding of the world of various strata of French society, mainly the first half of the 12th century.

Despite the fact that the construction managers succeeded each other, the general plan was maintained throughout the entire construction. It always amazes me how it was possible to build cathedrals for several centuries and preserve the original architect's intent. The Cologne Cathedral was built for 500 years, but it looks like an integral structure, as if grown by the wave of the right hand of God, so everything in it is subordinated to a single idea.
Unity and completeness are also characteristic of Chartres Cathedral. It was built from very durable sandstone, mined in the quarries of Bercher, which is eight kilometers from Chartres. Some stones in the lower parts of the building reach two to three meters in length and one meter in height. You can imagine their transportation. The cathedral was erected by masters invited to Chartres from Saint-Denis.
Chartres Cathedral is dedicated to the holy virgin and was especially revered, apparently because the place on which it stood was a place of pilgrimage even in the pagan era, a sacred spring beat here. The practice in the construction of temples is quite frequent, as many Christian basilicas in Rome were built on the site, and sometimes on the foundations of ancient temples. The source was preserved in the cellars of the cathedral, as was the ancient statue of the Black Mary. Another, more revered relic was the reliquary with the virgin's miraculous shirt. Nobody saw her, because the ark was not opened. It was discovered only during the French Revolution: it contained Syrian fabric and a coverlet decorated with the image of lions, according to experts, from the first century AD. In 876, Charles II the Bald, grandson of Charlemagne, presented the bishop with the chemise of the Virgin Mary, in which she was dressed at the birth of Christ. The sacred relic of Christians - the veil (hematium) of the Mother of God (a fragment of beige silk fabric) is exhibited in the chapel of the Sacred Heart of Mary, located in the northern part of the bypass of the choir.
As in other places that attracted pilgrims, buildings from different eras succeeded each other. The Christian basilica of the 4th century was replaced by another building, the cathedral, built in the 11th century, was preserved for a long time. On September 5, 1134, a fire devastated the city, but the cathedral was not damaged. Apparently, the bell tower burned down. Soon the construction of two towers began. The northern one was completed by 1150, the southern one by 1170. Between 1145 and 1150, the construction and decoration of the new western façade began, linking the two towers. This is the so-called "royal" portal, completed by 1155.

Masters of the 12th century determined the character of the western façade. Above the central portal, slightly cut into the thickness of the wall and therefore perfectly lit, there are high, shallow windows with a semicircular top. Above them is a rose from the early 13th century.

The central part of the façade is crowned by the "gallery of the kings" from the beginning of the 14th century.
The decor of the "royal portal" dates back to the middle of the 12th century. The gates are framed by pillars in the form of human figures, a technique that has developed since Roman times and shows how the sculptor obeyed the requirements of architecture.

Towers rise to the right and left, the northern one, the earlier one, topped by a 16th century arrow built by Jacques Texier between 1507 and 1513.

The South Arrow was built along with the tower, which is 80 centimeters thick at the base and 30 centimeters thick at the top. That is, the masters were well aware that the tower below had to be more powerful in order to withstand the load of a high stone wall. For centuries, it has endured vibrations from the swinging of huge bells, withstood storms and survived.

On the night of June 9-10, 1194, a new fire destroyed the old cathedral, the facade and crypt were preserved. During the fire, neither the servants of the church nor the relic were injured, which added zeal to the builders of the cathedral.
The new building retained the old plan, but the walls were already more powerful and new constructive solutions were laid down during the construction of the nave, which was completed by 1210. By 1220 the temple was covered with vaults.
Flying buttresses were already provided by the architect in the plan. They weren't pushed far

In general, the appearance of the building is not devoid of unity, buttresses and flying buttresses did not violate its solidity.

The design of the wall, which was developed during the Gothic so much that later, during its heyday, the system of transverse buttresses and semi-arches - flying buttresses, distributed the loads and leveled the overturning moment (for those who studied the strength of materials) so that the wall practically ceased to be a carrier and turned into stained glass lace , similar to the Saint-Chapelle chapel in Paris: http://vita-colorata.livejournal.com/100790.html Here, the cathedral has not yet completely lost its Romanesque power and tectonicity.

The buttresses on which the flying buttresses rest are decorated with statues.

Cathedral from the side of the altar.

The facades of the porticos of the transept gave the building a peculiar, I would even say French, elegance.

The abutments of the southern portal are richly covered with bas-reliefs. Both portals, northern and southern, are decorated with sculptures. The southern portico is especially interesting because it subsequently created a repeating form of the side facade, and became the prototype for many cathedrals. A feature of the Chartres Cathedral are the very thin columns of the upper floor, which created a vibrating surface of the wall.

North facade with a chapel on which the clock has been preserved.

From a distance, the cathedral has a more modest appearance than the aforementioned Cologne and some other cathedrals.