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Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of

Chartres

Basilique Cathdrale Notre-Dame de

Chartres

Basic information

Location 16 Clotre Notre Dame,

28000 Chartres, France

Affiliation Catholic, Latin Church

Rite Roman Rite

Province Diocese of Chartres

Ecclesiastical or

organizational

status

Cathedral

Status Active

Website www.cathedrale-

chartres.org

(http://www.cathedrale-

chartres.org/)

Architectural description

Architectural

type

Cathedral

Architectural

style

French Gothic

Groundbreaking 1145 (Romanesque)

1194 (Gothic)

Completed 1220

UNESCO World Heritage Site

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chartres Cathedral, also known as Cathedral Basilica of OurLady of Chartres(French:Basilique Cathdrale Notre-Dame deChartres), is a medieval Catholic cathedral of the Latin Churchlocated in Chartres, France, about 80 kilometres (50 mi) southwest

of Paris. It is considered one of the finest examples of FrenchGothic architecture and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Thecurrent cathedral, mostly constructed between 1194 and 1250, isthe last of at least five which have occupied the site since the townbecame a bishopric in the 4th century.

The cathedral is in an exceptional state of preservation. Themajority of the original stained glass windows survive intact, whilethe architecture has seen only minor changes since the early 13thcentury. The building's exterior is dominated by heavy flyingbuttresses which allowed the architects to increase the window sizesignificantly, while the west end is dominated by two contrastingspires a 105-metre (349 ft) plain pyramid completed around 1160and a 113-metre (377 ft) early 16th-century Flamboyant spire ontop of an older tower. Equally notable are the three great faades,each adorned with hundreds of sculpted figures illustrating keytheological themes and narratives.

Since at least the 12th century the cathedral has been an importantdestination for travellers and remains so to this day, attractinglarge numbers of Christian pilgrims, many of whom come to

venerate its famous relic, the Sancta Camisa, said to be the tunicworn by the Virgin Mary at Christ's birth, as well as large numbersof secular tourists who come to admire the cathedral's architectureand historical merit.

1 History

1.1 Social and economic context

1.2 Pilgrimages and the legend of the Sancta Camisa

1.3 Earlier buildings and the west faade

1.4 Construction of the present cathedral

1.5 French Revolution

1.6 World War II

1.7 Current history

1.8 Liturgy

Coordinates: 482650N 12916E

res Cathedral - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartres_

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Official name: Chartres Cathedral

Type: Architectural

Criteria: i, ii, iv

Designated: 1979[1]

Reference No. 81 (http://whc.unesco.org

/en/list/81)

State Party: France

Region: Europe

Session: 3rd

Monument historique

Official name: cathdrale Notre-Dame,

Chartres

Designated: 1862[2]

Reference No. IA28000005

(http://www.culture.gouv.fr

/documentation/memoire

/HTML/IVR24

/IA28000005/index.htm)

Chartres roofline and profile rising

over the modern town

2 Description

2.1 Statistics

2.2 Plan and elevation

2.3 Windows

2.3.1 12th-century windows

2.3.2 Lower windows

2.3.3 Clerestory windows

2.3.4 Rose windows

2.3.5 Post-13th-century changes to the

windows

2.4 Portals

2.4.1 West faade: Portail royal

2.4.2 North transept faade

2.4.3 South transept faade3 Cathedral school

4 Popular culture

5 Chartres Light Celebration

6 Gallery

7 See also

8 References

9 Bibliography

10 External links

Social and economic context

As with any medieval bishopric, Chartres Cathedral was the mostimportant building in the town the centre of its economy, its mostfamous landmark and the focal point of many activities that in modern

towns are provided for by specialised civic buildings. In the MiddleAges, the cathedral functioned as a kind of marketplace, with differentcommercial activities centred on the different portals, particularly duringthe regular fairs. Textiles were sold around the north transept, whilemeat, vegetable and fuel sellers congregated around the south porch.Money-changers (an essential service at a time when each town orregion had its own currency) had their benches, or banques, near thewest portals and also in the nave itself. Wine sellers plied their trade inthe nave, although occasional 13th-century ordinances survive whichrecord their being temporarily banished to the crypt to minimise


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Chartres Cathedral labyrinth

disturbances.[3]Workers of various professions gathered in particular locations around the cathedral awaitingoffers of work.

Although the town of Chartres was under the judicial and tax authority of the Counts of Blois, the areaimmediately surrounding the cathedral, known as the clotre, was in effect a free-trade zone governed by the

church authorities, who were entitled to the taxes from all commercial activity taking place there.[4]As well asgreatly increasing the cathedral's income, throughout the 12th and 13th centuries this led to regular disputes,

often violent, between the bishops, the chapter and the civic authorities particularly when serfs belonging tothe counts transferred their trade (and taxes) to the cathedral. In 1258, after a series of bloody riots instigated bythe count's officials, the chapter finally gained permission from the King to seal off the area of the clotreand

lock the gates each night.[5]

Pilgrimages and the legend of the Sancta Camisa

Even before the Gothic cathedral was built, Chartres was a place ofpilgrimage, albeit on a much smaller scale. During the Merovingian andearly Carolingian eras, the main focus of devotion for pilgrims was awell (now located in the north side of Fulbert's crypt), known as thePuits des Saints-Forts, or the 'Well of the Strong Saints', into which itwas believed the bodies of various local Early-Christian martyrs(including saints Piat, Cheron, Modesta and Potentianus) had beentossed. The widespread belief that the cathedral was also the site of apre-Christian druidical sect who worshipped a 'Virgin who will givebirth' is purely a late-medieval invention.

In c.876 the cathedral acquired the Sancta Camisa, believed to be thetunic worn by the Blessed Virgin Mary at the time of Christ's birth. According to legend, the relic was given tothe cathedral by Charlemagne who received it as a gift from Emperor Constantine VI during a crusade to

Jerusalem, however this legend was pure fiction (Charlemagne never went to the Holy Land) probablyinvented in the 11th century to authenticate some relics at the Abbey of St Denis.[6]In fact, the relic was a giftto the cathedral from Charles the Bald and there is no evidence for its being an important object of pilgrimageprior to the 12th century.

By the end of the 12th century however, the church had become one of the most important popular pilgrimagedestinations in Europe. There were four great fairs which coincided with the main feast days of the Virgin: thePresentation, the Annunciation, the Assumption and the Nativity. The fairs were held in the area administeredby the cathedral and were attended by many of the pilgrims in town to see the cloak of the Virgin.

Specific pilgrimages were also held in response to outbreaks of disease. When ergotism (more popularly known

in the Middle Ages as "St. Anthony's fire") afflicted many victims, the crypt of the original church became ahospital to care for the sick.[7]

Today Chartres continues to attract large numbers of pilgrims, many of whom come to walk slowly around thelabyrinth, their heads bowed in prayer an entirely modern devotional practice but one which the Cathedralauthorities accommodate by removing the chairs from the nave once a month.

Earlier buildings and the west faade

There have been at least five cathedrals on this site, each replacing an earlier building damaged by war or fire.


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West faade

North faade

Nothing survives of the earliest church, which was destroyed during an attack onthe city by the Danes in 858. Of the Carolingian church that replaced it, all thatremains is a semicircular chamber located directly below the centre of thepresent apse. This chamber, known as the Lubinus Crypt (named after themid-6th-century Bishop of Chartres), is lower than the rest of the crypt and mayhave been the shrine of a local saint, prior to the church's rededication to the

Virgin.[8]Another fire in 962 is mentioned in the annals, though nothing is

known about the subsequent rebuilding. A more serious conflagration occurredin 1020, after which Bishop Fulbert (bishop from 1006 to 1028) began theconstruction of an entirely new building. Most of the present crypt, which is thelargest in France, dates from that period. The rebuilding proceeded in phasesover the next hundred years or so, culminating in 1145 in a display of publicenthusiasm dubbed the "Cult of the Carts" one of several such incidentsrecorded during the period. It was claimed that during this religious outburst, acrowd of more than a thousand penitents dragged carts filled with building

supplies and provisions including stones, wood, grain, etc. to the site.[9]

In 1134, another fire damaged the town, and perhaps part of the

cathedral. The north tower was started immediately afterwards thesouth tower some time later. From the beginning, it was intended thatthese towers flank a central porch of some sort and a narthex. When thenorth tower rose to the level of the second storey, the south was begun the evidence lies in the profiles and in the masons marks on the twolevels of the two towers. Between them on the first level, a chapel wasconstructed to Saint Michael. Traces of the vaults and the shafts whichsupported them are still visible in the western two bays. This chapel was

probably vaulted, and those vaults saved the western glass.[10]Thestained glass in the three lancets over the portals date from some time

between 1145 and 1155, while the south spire, some 103 metres high,was also completed by 1155 or later.

Work was begun on the Royal Portal with the south lintel around 1136 and with all its sculpture installed up to1141. Opinions are uncertain as the sizes and styles of the figures vary and some elements, such as the lintelover the right-hand portal, have clearly been cut down to fit the available spaces. The sculpture was originallydesigned for these portals, but the layouts were changed by successive masters, see careful lithic analysis by

John James.[11]Either way, most of the carving follows the exceptionally high standard typical of this period

and exercised a strong influence on the subsequent development of gothic portal design.[12]

Some of the masters have been identified by John James, and drafts of these studies have been published on the

web site of the International Centre of Medieval Art, New York.[13]

Construction of the present cathedral

On 10 June 1194, another fire caused extensive damage to Fulbert's cathedral. The true extent of the damage isunknown, though the fact that the lead cames holding the west windows together survived the conflagrationintact suggests contemporary accounts of the terrible devastation may have been exaggerated. Either way, theopportunity was taken to begin a complete rebuilding of the choir and nave in the latest style. The undamagedwestern towers and faade were incorporated into the new works, as was the earlier crypt, effectively limiting


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Jamb statues of Saints

Martin, Jerome, and Gregory

Central tympanum of the Royal portal

Clerestory and flying buttresses

the designers of the new building to the same general plan as its predecessor. Infact the present building is only marginally longer than Fulbert's cathedral.

One of the unusual features of Chartres cathedral is the speed with which it wasbuilt a factor which helped contribute to the consistency of its design. Eventhough there were innumerable changes to the details, the plan remainsremarkably consistent. The major change occurred six years after work beganwhen the seven deep chapels around the choir opening off a single ambulatory

were turned into shallow recesses opening off a double-aisled ambulatory.[14]

Australian architectural historian JohnJames, who made a detailed study of thecathedral, has estimated that there wereabout 300 men working on the site at anyone time, although it has to beacknowledged that current knowledge ofworking practices at this time issomewhat limited. Normally medieval

churches were built from east to west so that the choir could becompleted first and put into use (with a temporary wall sealing off thewest end) while the crossing and nave were completed. Canon Delaporteargued that building work started at the crossing and proceeded outwards

from there,[15]but the evidence in the stonework itself is unequivocal, especially within the level of thetriforium: the nave was at all times more advanced than ambulatory bays of the choir, and this has beenconfirmed by dendrochronology.

The history of the cathedral has been plagued by more theories than any other, a singular problem for thoseattempting to discover the truth. For example Louis Grodecki argued that the lateral doors of the transept portals

were cut through the walls at a later date,[16]and van der Meulen that they had wanted to rebuild the western

portals (then only 50 years old).[17]None of these theories refer back to the actual stonework, and it is onlywhen one has done so, as John James did exhaustively in 1969, that one realizes that the construction processwas in fact simple and logical.

It is important to remember that the builders were not working on aclean site but would have had to clear back the rubble and survivingparts of the old church as they built the new. Nevertheless, workprogressed rapidly. The south porch with most of its sculpture wasinstalled by 1210, and by 1215 the north porch had been completed and

the western rose installed.[18]The nave high vaults were erected in the

1220s, the canons moved into their new stalls in 1221 under a temporaryroof at the level of the clerestory, and the transept roses were erectedover the subsequent two decades. The high vaults over the choir werenot built until the last years of the 1250s, as was rediscovered in the first

decade of the 21st century.[19]

Each arm of the transept was originally meant to support two towers, two more were to flank the choir, andthere was to have been a central lantern over the crossing nine towers in all. Plans for a crossing tower wereabandoned in 1221 and the crossing was vaulted over. Work on the remaining six towers continued at a slowerpace for some decades, until it was decided to leave them without spires (as at Laon Cathedral and elsewhere).


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Chapel of Saint Piat

The monumental screen around the

choir

The cathedral was consecrated on 24 October 1260 in the presence of King Louis IX of France, whose coat of

arms was painted over the apsidal boss.[20]

Compared with other medieval churches, relatively few changes havebeen made to the cathedral since its consecration. In 1323 a substantialtwo story construction was added at the eastern end of the choir, with achapel dedicated to Saint Piat in the upper floor accessed by a staircaseopening onto the ambulatory (the chapel of St Piat is normally closed tovisitors, although it occasionally houses temporary exhibitions). Thechamber below the chapel served the canons as their chapter house.

Shortly after 1417, a small chapel was placed between the buttresses ofthe south nave for the Count of Vendme. At the same time the smallorgan that had been built in the nave aisle was moved up into thetriforium where it remains, though some time in the sixteenth century itwas replaced with a larger one on a raised platform at the western end of

the building. To this end, some of the interior shafts in the western bay were removed and plans made to rebuildthe organ there. In the event, this plan was abandoned, the glass in the western lancets was retained and the old

organ was replaced with the present one.In 1506, lightning destroyed the north spire, which was rebuilt in the'Flamboyant' style by local mason Jehan de Beauce (who also worked onthe abbey church in Vendme). It is 113 metres high and took sevenyears to construct. After its completion Jehan continued working on thecathedral, and began the monumental screen around the choir stalls,which was not completed until the beginning of the eighteenth century.

In 1757, a number of changes were made to the interior to increase thevisibility of the Mass, in accordance with changing religious customs.

The jub (choir screen) that separated the liturgical choir from the navewas torn down and the present stalls built (some of the magnificentsculpture from this screen was later found buried underneath the pavingand preserved, though it is not on public display). At the same time, some of the stained glass in the clerestorywas removed and replaced with grisaille windows, greatly increasing the illumination of the High Altar.

In 1836, the old lead-covered roof, with its complex structure of timber supports (known as 'the forest') wasdestroyed by fire. It was replaced with a copper-clad roof supported by a network of cast iron ribs, known as theCharpente de fer. At the time, the framework over the crossing had the largest span of any iron framedconstruction in Europe.

French Revolution

The cathedral was damaged in the French Revolution when a mob began to destroy the sculpture on the northporch. This is one of the few occasions on which the anti-religious fervour was stopped by the townfolk. TheRevolutionary Committee decided to destroy the cathedral via explosives, and asked a local architect toorganise it. He saved the building by pointing out that the vast amount of rubble from the demolished buildingwould so clog the streets it would take years to clear away. However, when metal was needed for the army thebrass plaque in the centre of the labyrinth was removed and melted down our only record of what was on theplaque was Felibien's description.


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Inside the roof-space, the Charpente

de fer, c. 1840

The Cathedral of Chartres was therefore neither destroyed nor lootedduring the French Revolution and the numerous restorations have notdiminished its reputation as a triumph of Gothic art. The cathedral hasbeen fortunate in being spared the damage suffered by so many duringthe Wars of Religion and the Revolution, though the lead roof wasremoved to make bullets and the Directorate threatened to destroy thebuilding as its upkeep, without a roof, had become too onerous.

World War II

All the glass from the cathedral was removed in 1939 just before theGermans invaded France, and it was cleaned after the War and releadedbefore replacing. While the city suffered heavy damage by bombing in the course of World War II, the cathedral

was spared by an American Army officer who challenged the order to destroy it. [21]

Colonel Welborn Barton Griffith, Jr. questioned the strategy of destroying the cathedral and volunteered to gobehind enemy lines to find out whether the German Army was occupying the cathedral and using it as anobservation post. With a single enlisted soldier to assist, Griffith proceeded to the cathedral and confirmed that

the Germans were not using it. After he returned from his reconnaissance, he reported that the cathedral wasclear of enemy troops. The order to destroy the cathedral was withdrawn, and the Allies later liberated the area.

Griffith was killed in action on 16 August 1944, in the town of Leves, near Chartres.[21][22]

Current history

In the last decade the fabric has seen an almost continuous program of cleaning and restoration. In recent yearsa major project has been underway to clean all the stone vaults of the choir and nave and repaint them inemulation of the 13th-century polychromy.

Liturgy

The cathedral is still the seat of the Bishop of Chartres of the Diocese of Chartres, though in the ecclesiasticalprovince of Tours.

Statistics

Length: 130 metres (430 ft)

Width: 32 metres (105 ft) / 46 metres (151 ft)

Nave: height 37 metres (121 ft); width 16.4 metres (54 ft)

Ground area: 10,875 square metres (117,060 sq ft)

Height of south-west tower: 105 metres (344 ft)

Height of north-west tower: 113 metres (371 ft)

176 stained-glass windows

Choir enclosure: 200 statues in 41 scenes


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Chartres floorplan

Plan of the labyrinth of

Chartres Cathedral.

Plan and elevation

The plan is cruciform. A two bay narthex at the western end opens into aseven bay nave leading to the crossing, from which wide transeptsextend three bays each to north and south. East of the crossing are fourrectangular bays terminating in a semicircular apse. The nave andtransepts are flanked by single aisles, broadening to a double-aisled

ambulatory around the choir and apse. From the ambulatory radiate threedeep semi-circular chapels (overlying the deep chapels of Fulbert's11th-century crypt) and three much shallower ones. Of the latter, onewas effectively lost in the 1320s when the Chapel of St Piat was built.

The elevation of the nave is three-storied,with arcade, triforium and clerestorylevels. By eschewing the gallery level thatfeatured in many early Gothic cathedrals(normally between arcade and triforium),the designers were able to make the richly

glazed arcade and clerestory levels largerand almost equal in height, with just anarrow dark triforium in between.Although not the first example of thisthree-part elevation, Chartres was perhapsthe first of the great churches to make asuccess of it and to use the same design

consistently throughout. The result was a far greater area of window openings. These windows were entirelyglazed with densely colored glass, which resulted in a relatively dark interior but one which accentuated therichness of the glass and the colored light that filtered through them.

Increasing the size of the windows meant reducing the wall area considerably, something which was madepossible only by the extensive use of flying buttresses on the outside. These buttresses supported theconsiderable lateral thrusts resulting from the 34m high stone vaults, higher and wider than any attemptedbefore in France. These vaults were quadripartite, each bay split into four webs by two diagonally crossing ribs,unlike the sexpartite vaults adopted in many earlier Gothic cathedrals such as at Laon.

Another architectural breakthrough at Chartres was a resolution to the problem of how to arrange attachedcolumns or shafts around a pier in a way that worked aesthetically but which also satisfied the desire forstructural logic that characterised French high gothic. The nave at Chartres features alternating round andoctagonal solid cored piers, each of which has four attached half-columns at the cardinal points, two of these(on the east-west axis) support the arches of the arcade, one acts as the springing for the aisle vault and one

supports the cluster of shafts that rise through the triforium and clerestory to support the high-vault ribs. Thispier design, known aspilier cantonnwas to prove highly influential and subsequently featured in a number ofother high gothic churches.

Although the sculpture on the portals at Chartres is generally of a high standard, the various carved elementsinside, such as the capitals and string courses, are relatively poorly finished (when compared for example withthose at Reims or Soissons) the reason is simply that the portals were carved from the finest Parisianlimestone, or ' 'calcaire' ', while the internal capitals were carved from the local Berchere stone that is hard towork and can be brittle.


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TheBelle Verrire(c.1180

and 1225)

Windows

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of Chartres Cathedral is the extent to whicharchitectural structure has been adapted to meet the needs of stained glass. Theuse of a three-part elevation with external buttressing allowed for far largerwindows than earlier designs, particularly at the clerestory level. Mostcathedrals of the period had a mixture of windows containing plain or grisaille

glass and windows containing dense stained glass panels, with the result that thebrightness of the former tended to diminish the impact and legibility of the latter.At Chartres, nearly all of the 176 windows were filled with equally densestained glass, creating a relatively dark but richly coloured interior in which thelight filtering through the myriad narrative and symbolic windows was the mainsource of illumination.

12th-century windows

The majority of the windows now visible at Chartres were made and installed

between 1205 and 1240,[23]however four lancets preserve panels ofRomanesque glass from the 12th century which survived the fire of 1195. Threeof these are located beneath the rose in the west faade; the Passion window tothe south, the Infancy of Christ in the centre and a Tree of Jesse to the north. Allthree of these windows were originally made around 1145 but were restored inthe early 13th century and again in the 19th. The other 12th-century window,perhaps the most famous at Chartres is the so-calledBelle Verrire, found in thefirst bay of the choir after the south transept. This window is actually acomposite; the upper part, showing the Virgin and child surrounded by adoring angels, dates from around 1180and was probably positioned at the centre of the apse in the earlier building. The Virgin is depicted wearing ablue robe and sitting in a frontal pose on a throne, with the Christ Child seated on her lap raising his hand in

blessing. This composition, known as the Sedes sapientia('Throne of Wisdom'), which also appears on thePortail royal, is based on the famous cult figure kept in the crypt. The lower part or the window, showingscenes from the Infancy of Christ dates from the main glazing campaign around 1225.

Lower windows

Each bay of the aisles and the choir ambulatory contains one large lancet window, most of them roughly 8.1m

high by 2.2m wide.[24]The subjects depicted in these windows, made between 1205 and 1235, include storiesfrom the Old and New Testament and the Lives of the Saints as well as typological cycles and symbolic imagessuch as the signs of the zodiac and labours of the months. Most windows are made up of around 2530

individual panels showing distinct episodes within the narrative only theBelle Verrireincludes a largerimage made up of multiple panels.

Several of the windows at Chartres include images of local tradesmen or labourers in the lowest two or threepanels, often with details of their equipment and working methods. Traditionally it was claimed that theseimages represented the guilds of the donors who paid for the windows. In recent years however this view haslargely been discounted, not least because each window would have cost around as much as a large mansionhouse to make while most of the labourers depicted would have been subsistence workers with little or nodisposable income. Furthermore, although they became powerful and wealthy organisations in the latermedieval period, none of these trade guilds had actually been founded when the glass was being made in the


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The western bays on the south side of

the nave, showing the top of the

arcade, the triforium and theclerestory windows

North transept rose window, c.1235

early 13th century.[25]A more likely explanation is that the Cathedral clergy wanted to emphasise the universalreach of the Church, particularly at a time when their relationship with the local community was often atroubled one.

Clerestory windows

Because of their greater distance from the viewer, the windows in the

clerestory generally adopt simpler, bolder designs. Most feature thestanding figure of a saint or Apostle in the upper two-thirds, often withone or two simplified narrative scenes in the lower part, either to helpidentify the figure or else to remind the viewer of some key event intheir life. Whereas the lower windows in the nave arcades and theambulatory consist of one simple lancet per bay, the clerestory windowsare each made up of a pair of lancets with a plate-traceried rose windowabove. The nave and transept clerestory windows mainly depict saintsand Old Testament prophets. Those in the choir depict the kings ofFrance and Castille and members of the local nobility in the straightbays, while the windows in the apse hemicycle show those Old

Testament prophets who foresaw the virgin birth, flanking scenes of theAnnunciation, Visitation and Nativity in the axial window.

Rose windows

The cathedral has three large rose windows.

The western rose, made c.1215 and 12 m in diameter shows the LastJudgement a traditional theme for west faades. A central oculusshowing Christ as the Judge is surrounded by an inner ring of 12 paired

roundels containing angels and the Elders of the Apocalypse and anouter ring of 12 roundels showing the dead emerging from their tombsand the angels blowing trumpets to summon them to judgement.

The north transept rose (10.5 m diameter, made c.1235), like much of

the sculpture in the north porch beneath it, is dedicated to the Virgin.[26]

The central oculus shows the Virgin and Child and is surrounded by 12small petal-shaped windows, 4 with doves (the 'Four Gifts of the Spirit'),the rest with adoring angels carrying candlesticks. Beyond this is a ringof 12 diamond-shaped openings containing the Old Testament Kings ofJudah, another ring of smaller lozenges containing the arms of France

and Castille, and finally a ring of semicircles containing Old TestamentProphets holding scrolls. The presence of the arms of the French king(yellow fleurs-de-lis on a blue background) and of his mother, Blancheof Castile (yellow castles on a red background) are taken as a sign ofroyal patronage for this window. Beneath the rose itself are five talllancet windows (7.5 m high) showing, in the centre, the Virgin as an infant held by her mother, St Anne thesame subject as the trumeau in the portal beneath it. Flanking this lancet are four more containing OldTestament figures. Each of these standing figures is shown symbolically triumphing over an enemy depicted inthe base of the lancet beneath them David over Saul, Aaron over Pharaoh, St Anne over Synagoga, etc.


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South transept rose window,c.1221-30

Window of the Vendome Chapel,

c.1415

Wikimedia Commons hasmedia related to Stained

glass windows of

Cathdrale Notre-Dame de

Chartres.

The south transept rose (10.5 m diameter, made c.122530) is dedicatedto Christ, who is shown in the central oculus, right hand raised inbenediction, surrounded by adoring angels. Two outer rings of twelvecircles each contain the 24 Elders of the Apocalypse, crowned andcarrying phials and musical instruments. The central lancet beneath therose shows the Virgin carrying the infant Christ. Either side of this arefour lancets showing the four evangelists sitting on the shoulders of fourProphets a rare literal illustration of the theological principle that theNew Testament builds upon the Old Testament. This window was adonation of the Mauclerc family, the Counts of Dreux-Bretagne, who are

depicted with their arms in the bases of the lancets.[27]

Post-13th-century changes to the windows

On the whole, Chartres' windows have been remarkably fortunate. Themedieval glass largely escaped harm during the Huguenot iconoclasmand the religious wars of the 16th century although the west rosesustained damage from artillery fire in 1591. The relative darkness of the

interior seems to have been a problem for some. A few windows werereplaced with much lighter grisaille glass in the 14th century to improve

illumination, particularly on the north side[28]and several more werereplaced with clear glass in 1753 as part of the reforms to liturgicalpractice that also led to the removal of thejub. The installation of theVendme Chapel between two buttresses of the nave in the early 15thcentury resulted in the loss of one more lancet window, though it didallow for the insertion of a fine late-gothic window with donor portraitsof Louis de Bourbon and his family witnessing the Coronation of theVirgin with assorted saints.

Although estimates vary (depending on how one counts compound orgrouped windows) approximately 152 of the original 176 stained glasswindows survive far more than any other medieval cathedral anywherein the world.

Like most medieval buildings, the windows at Chartres suffered badlyfrom the corrosive effects of atmospheric acids during the IndustrialRevolution and subsequently. The majority of windows were cleanedand restored by the famous local workshopAtelier Lorinat the end ofthe 19th century but they continued to deteriorate. During World War II

most of the stained glass was removed from the cathedral and stored inthe surrounding countryside to protect it from damage. At the close of the war the windows were taken out ofstorage and reinstalled. Since then an ongoing programme of conservation has been underway and isothermalsecondary glazing is gradually been installed on the exterior to protect the windows from further damage.

Portals

The cathedral has three great faades, each equipped with three portals,opening into the nave from the west and into the transepts from northand south. In each faade the central portal is particularly large and was


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The west faade (Portail royal)

Gothic statues in the Portail

royal

only used for special ceremonies, while the smaller side portals allowed everyday access for the differentcommunities that used the cathedral

West faade:Portail royal

One of the few elements to survive from the mid-12th-century church,the Portail royalwas integrated into the new cathedral built after the

1194 fire. Opening onto theparvis(the large square in front of thecathedral where markets were held), the two lateral doors would havebeen the first entry point for most visitors to Chartres, as it remainstoday. The central door was only opened for the entry of processions onmajor festivals, of which the most important was theAdventusor

installation of a new bishop.[29]The harmonious appearance of thefaade results in part from the relative proportions of the central andlateral portals, whose widths are in the ratio 10:7 one of the commonmedieval approximations of the square root of 2.

As well as their basic functions of controlling access to the interior, portals were

the main locations for sculpted images on the gothic cathedral and it was on thewest faade at Chartres that this practice began to develop into a visual summaor encyclopedia of theological knowledge. The three portals each focus on adifferent aspect of Christ's role; his earthly incarnation on the right, his second

coming on the left and his eternal aspect in the centre.[30]

Above the right portal, the lintel is carved in two registers with (lower) theAnnunciation, Visitation, Nativity, Annunciation to the Shepherds and (upper)the Presentation in the Temple. Above this the tympanum shows the Virgin andChild enthroned in the Sedes sapientiaepose. Surrounding the tympanum, as a

reminder of the glory days of the School of Chartres, the archivolts are carvedwith some very distinctive personifications of the Seven Liberal Arts as well asthe classical authors and philosophers most associated with them.

The left portal is more enigmatic and art historians still argue over the correctidentification. The tympanum shows Christ standing on a cloud, apparently supported by two angels. Some seethis as a depiction of the Ascension of Christ (in which case the figures on the lower lintel would represent thedisciples witnessing the event) while others see it as representing the Parousia, or Second Coming of Christ (inwhich case the lintel figures could be either the prophets who foresaw that event or else the 'Men of Galilee'mentioned in Acts 1:9-11). The presence of angels in the upper lintel, descending from a cloud and apparentlyshouting to those below, would seem to support the latter interpretation. The archivolts contain the signs of the

zodiac and the labours of the months standard references to the cyclical nature of time which appear in manygothic portals.

The central portal is a more conventional representation of the End of Time as described in the Book ofRevelation. In the centre of the tympanum is Christ within a mandorla, surrounded by the four symbols of theevangelists (the Tetramorph). The lintel shows the Twelve Apostles while the archivolts show the 24 Elders ofthe Apocalypse.

Although the upper parts of the three portals are treated separately, two sculptural elements run horizontallyacross the faade, uniting its different parts. Most obvious are the jamb statues afixed to the columns flankingthe doorways tall, slender standing figures of kings and queens from whom the Portail royalderived its name.


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Central portal

North transept porch with a window

of the sacristy (c.1310) in the

background

Although in the 18th and 19th century these figures were mistakenlyidentified as the Merovingian monarchs of France (thus attracting theopprobrium of Revolutionary iconoclasts) they almost certainlyrepresent the kings and queens of the Old Testament another standardiconographical feature of gothic portals.

Less obvious than the jamb statues but far more intricately carved is thefrieze that stretches all across the faade in the sculpted capitals on top

of the jamb columns. Carved into these capitals is a very lengthynarrative depicting the life of the Virgin and the life and Passion of

Christ.[31]

North transept faade

In northern Europe it is common for the iconography on the north side ofa church to focus on Old Testament themes, with stories from the livesof the saints and the Gospels being more prominent on the physically(and hence, spiritually) brighter southern side. Chartres is no exception

to this general principle and the north transept portals, with their deepsheltering porches, concentrate on the precursors of Christ, leading up tothe moment of His incarnation, with a particular emphasis on the Virgin

Mary.[30]The overall iconographical themes are clearly laid-out; theglorification of Mary in the centre, the incarnation of her son on the leftand Old Testament prefigurations and prophecies on the right. Onemajor exception to this scheme is the presence of large statues of StModesta (a local martyr) and St Potentian on the north west corner of theporch, close to a small doorway where pilgrims visiting the crypt (wheretheir relics were stored) would once have emerged blinking into the light.

Iconography of the various elements of the north transept portals

Left (east) Portal Central Portal Right (west) Portal

Jamb

figures:

Annunciation to Mary andthe Visitation

Old Testament Patriarchs,John the Baptist and St Peter

King Solomon, the Queen ofSheba, various prophets

Lintel:Nativity and Annunciation tothe Shepherds

Dormition and Assumptionof the Virgin

Judgment of Solomon

Tympanum:Adoration of the Magi andthe Dream of the Magi

Coronation of the Virgin Job on the Dunghill

Archivolts:Personifications of theVirtues and Vices

Tree of Jesse / ProphetsOld Testament Narratives (Esther,Judith, Samson, Gideon andTobit)

As well as the main sculptural areas around the portals themselves, the deep porches are filled with myriadother carvings depicting a range of subjects including local saints, Old Testament narratives, naturalistic foliage,fantastical beasts, Labours of the Months and personifications of the 'active and contemplative lives' (the vitaactivaand vita contemplativa). The personifications of the vita activa(directly overhead, just inside the insideof the left hand porch) are of particular interest for their meticulous depictions of the various stages in thepreparation of flax an important cash-crop in the area during the Middle Ages.


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South elevation.

South transept faade

If the north transept portals are all about the time leading up to Christ'sincarnation and the west faade is about the events of his life andPassion, then the iconography of the south transept portals addresses thetime from Christ's death until his Second Coming. The central portalconcentrates on the Last Judgement and the Apostles, the left portal onthe lives of martyrs and the right on confessor saints (an arrangementalso reflected in the windows of the apse).

Just like their northern counterparts, the south transept portals open intodeep porches which greatly extend the space available for sculpturalembellishment. A large number of subsidiary scenes depict conventionalthemes like the labours of the months and the signs of the zodiac, personifications of the virtues and vices andalso further scenes from the lives of the martyrs (left porch) and confessors (right porch).

Iconography of the various elements of the south transept portals

Left (west) Portal Central Portal Right (east) Portal

Jamb

figures:Martyr saints The Apostles Confessor saints

Lintel:

The martyrdom (bystoning) of StStephen

The weighing of souls and separationof the blessed and the damned

Scenes from the lives of StNicholas of Bari and St Martin ofTours

Tympanum:Stephen's beatificvision of Christ

Christ showing his wounds with theVirgin and St John and angels bearingtheArma Christi

Further scenes from the lives ofSt Nicholas and St Martin

Archivolts: Assorted martyrsaints Choirs of angels and the dead risingfrom their tombs / Prophets

Life of St Giles in lower register,

other Confessors in the remainingvoussoirs

In the Middle Ages the cathedral also functioned as an important cathedral school. In the early 11th centuryBishop Fulbert established Chartres as one of the leading schools in Europe. Although the role of Fulberthimself as a scholar and teacher has been questioned, perhaps his greatest talent was as an administrator, whoestablished the conditions in which the school could flourish, as well as laying the foundations for the

rebuilding of the cathedral after the fire of 1020.[32]

Great scholars were attracted to the cathedral school,including Thierry of Chartres, William of Conches and the Englishman John of Salisbury. These men were atthe forefront of the intense intellectual rethinking that culminated in what is now known as the twelfth-centuryrenaissance, pioneering the Scholastic philosophy that came to dominate medieval thinking throughout Europe.

By the early 12th century the status of the School of Chartres was on the wane. It was gradually eclipsed by thenewly emerging University of Paris, particularly at the School of the Abbey of St Victoire (the 'Victorines'). Bythe middle of the century the importance of Chartres Cathedral had begun to shift away from education andtowards pilgrimage, a changing emphasis reflected in the subsequent architectural developments.


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Pythagoras on one of the

archivolts over the right door

of the west portal at Chartres

Orson Welles famously used Chartres as a visual backdrop and inspiration for amontage sequence in his film F For Fake. Welles semi-autobiographicalnarration spoke to the power of art in culture and how the work itself may bemore important than the identity of its creators. Feeling that the beauty ofChartres and its unknown artisans and architects epitomized this sentiment,

Welles, standing outside the cathedral and looking at it, eulogizes:

Now this has been standing here for centuries. The premier work of manperhaps in the whole western world and its without a signature: Chartres.

A celebration to Gods glory and to the dignity of man. All thats left mostartists seem to feel these days, is man. Naked, poor, forked, radish. Therearent any celebrations. Ours, the scientists keep telling us, is a universe,which is disposable. You know it might be just this one anonymous gloryof all things, this rich stone forest, this epic chant, this gaiety, this grandchoiring shout of affirmation, which we choose when all our cities are dust, to stand intact, to mark

where we have been, to testify to what we had it in us, to accomplish.

Our works in stone, in paint, in print are spared, some of them for a few decades, or a millenniumor two, but everything must finally fall in war or wear away into the ultimate and universal ash. Thetriumphs and the frauds, the treasures and the fakes. A fact of life. Were going to die. Be of goodheart, cry the dead artists out of the living past. Our songs will all be silenced but what of it? Goon singing. Maybe a mans name doesnt matter all that much.

(Church bells peal...)

Joseph Campbell references his spiritual experience in The Power of Myth:

I'm back in the Middle Ages. I'm back in the world that I was brought up in as a child, the RomanCatholic spiritual-image world, and it is magnificent ... That cathedral talks to me about thespiritual information of the world. It's a place for meditation, just walking around, just sitting, justlooking at those beautiful things.

Joris-Karl Huysmans includes detailed interpretation of the symbolism underlying the art of Chartres Cathedralin his 1898 semi-autobiographical novelLa cathdrale.

Chartres was the primary basis for the fictional Cathedral in David Macaulay's Cathedral: The Story of ItsConstructionand the animated special based on this book.

Chartres was a major character in the religious thriller Gospel Truthsby J. G. Sandom. The book used theCathedral's architecture and history as clues in the search for a lost Gospel.

The cathedral is featured in the television travel series The Naked Pilgrim; presenter Brian Sewell explores thecathedral and discusses its famous relic the nativity cloak said to have been worn by the Virgin Mary.

Popular action-adventure video gameAssassin's Creedfeatures a climbable cathedral modeled heavily on theChartres Cathedral.


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One of the attractions at the Chartres Cathedral is the Chartres Light Celebration, when not only is the cathedrallit, but so are many buildings throughout the town, as a celebration of electrification.

West faade

Overview

Choir

Flying buttresses

View from south-east

France in the Middle Ages

Roman Catholic Marian churches


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^"Chartres Cathedral" (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/81). Whc.unesco.org. Retrieved 1 February 2013.1.

^"Mrime database" (http://www.culture.gouv.fr/documentation/memoire/HTML/IVR24/IA28000005/index.htm).

French government. Retrieved 1 February 2013.

2.

Ôtto von Simson, The Gothic Cathedral, 2nd Ed. New York, 1962, p.1673.

^For a definitive study of the social and economic life of medieval Chartres based on archive documents, see; Andr

Chdeville, Chartres et ses campagnes au Moyen ge : XIe au XIIIe sicles, Paris, 1992.

4.

^See Jane Welch Williams,Bread, wine & money: the windows of the trades at Chartres Cathedral, Chicago, 1993,especially p.21ff.

5.

Ê. Mle,Religious Art in France: The Thirteenth Century, Princeton 1984 [1898], p.3436.

^Favier, Jean. The World of Chartres. New York: Henry N. Abrams, 1990. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-8109-1796-5.7.

^Jan van der Meulen,Notre-Dame de Chartres: Die vorromanische Ostanlage, Berlin 1975.8.

^Honour, H. and Fleming, J. The Visual Arts: A History,7th ed., Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall,

2005.

9.

^John James, "La construction du narthex de la cathdrale de Chartres", ' 'Bulletin de la Socit Archologique

dEure-et-Loir' ', lxxxvii 2006, 320. Also in English in ' 'In Search of the unknown in medieval architecture' ', 2007,

Pindar Press, London.

10.

^John James, "An Examination of Some Anomalies in the Ascension and Incarnation Portals of Chartres Cathedral",

Gesta, 25:1 (1986) pp. 101108.

11.

^C. Edson Armi, The "Headmaster" of Chartres and the Origins of "Gothic" Sculpture, Penn. State, 1994.12.

^"John James | International Center of Medieval ArtInternational Center of Medieval Art" (http://medievalart.org

/?page_id=214). Medievalart.org. Retrieved 2013-03-12.

13.

^John James, ' 'The contractors of Chartres' ', Wyong, ii vols. 197981.14.

^Yves Delaporte,Notre-Dame de Chartres: Introduction historique et archologique, Paris, 195715.

^Louis Grodecki, "Chronologie de la cathdrale de Chartres", ' 'Bulletin monumental' ', cxvi 1958, 91119.16.

^Jan van der Meulen, Chartres: Sources and Literary Interpretations. A Critical Bibliography, Boston, 198917.^James, John (1990). The Master Masons of Chartres. London; New York; Chartres; Sydney.

ISBN 978-0-646-00805-9.

18.

^Lautier, Claudine (2011). "Restaurations rcentes la cathdrale de Chartres et nouvelles recherches".Bulletin

Monumental169.

19.

^Favier, Jean. The World of Chartres. New York: Henry N. Abrams, 1990. p. 160. ISBN 978-0-8109-1796-5.20.

âbMilitaryTimes.com. "MilitaryTimes Hall of Valor" (http://www.militarytimes.com/citations-medals-awards

/recipient.php?recipientid=6100). Welborn Barton Griffith, Jr. Military Times, a Gannett Company. Retrieved 10

May 2011. Note: The Distinguished Service Cross was awarded posthumously for saving the cathedral.

21.

^Jay Nordlinger (2011). "A Colonel at Chartres" (http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/266849/colonel-chartres-

jay-nordlinger). The Corner. NationalReview.com. Retrieved 11 May 2011.

22.

^For a detailed analysis see; Paul Frankl, The Chronology of the Stained Glass in Chartres Cathedral, in The Art

Bulletin45:4 Dec 1963, pp.30122

23.

^The most complete survey is Yves Delaporte,Les Vitravx De La Cathedrale De Chartres, Paris, 192624.

^Jane Welch Williams,Bread, Wine and Money: the Windows of the Trades at Chartres Cathedral, Chicago, 199325.

^For details see Delaporte & Houvet, 1926, p.496ff26.


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^Claudine Lautier, 'Les vitraux de la cathdrale de Chartres. Reliques et images', Bulletin Monumentale, 161:1,

2003, pp.396

27.

^Meredith Parsons Lillich,A Redating of the Thirteenth Century Grisaille Windows of Chartres Cathedral, in Gesta,

xi, 1972, pp.1118

28.

^Margot Fassler,Adventus at Chartres: Ritual Models for Major Processionsin Ceremonial Culture in Pre-Modern

Europe, ed. Nicholas Howe, University of Indiana Press, 2007

29.

^a

b

Adolf Katzenellenbogen, The Sculptural Programs of Chartres Cathedral, Baltimore, 195930.^Adelheid Heimann, The Capital Frieze and Pilasters of the Portail royal, ChartresinJournal of the Warburg and

Courtland Institutes, Vol. 31, 1968, pp.73102

31.

^Loren C. MacKinney,Bishop Fulbert and Education at the School of Chartres, Univ. of Notre Dame Indiana, 195632.

Burckhardt, Titus. Chartres and the birth of the cathedral. Bloomington: World Wisdom Books, 1996.

ISBN 978-0-941532-21-1

Adams, Henry.Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1913 and many later

editions.

Ball, Philip. Universe of Stone. New York: Harper, 2008. ISBN 978-0-06-115429-4.

Delaporte, Y.Les vitraux de la cathdrale de Chartres: histoire et description par l'abb Y. Delaporte ...

reproductions par . Houvet.Chartres : . Houvet, 1926. 3 volumes (consists chiefly of photographs of

the windows of the cathedral)

Fassler, Margot E. The Virgin of Chartres: Making History Through Liturgy and the Arts(Yale University

Press; 2010) 612 pages; Discusses Mary's gown and other relics held by the Chartres Cathedral in a study

of history making and the cult of the Virgin of Chartres in the 11th and 12th centuries.

Grant, Lindy. "Representing Dynasty: The Transept Windows at Chartres Cathedral," in Robert A.

Maxwell (ed)Representing History, 9001300: Art, Music, History(University Park (PA), Pennsylvania

State University press, 2010),

Houvet, E. Cathdrale de Chartres.Chelles (S.-et-M.) : Hlio. A. Faucheux, 1919. 5 volumes in 7.

(consists entirely of photogravures of the architecture and sculpture, but not windows)

Houvet, E.An Illustrated Monograph of Chartres Cathedral: (Being an Extract of a Work Crowned by

Acadmie des Beaux-Arts).s.l.: s.n., 1930.

James, John, The Master Masons of Chartres, West Grinstead, 1990, ISBN 978-0-646-00805-9.

James, John, The contractors of Chartres, Wyong, ii vols. 197981, ISBN 978-0-9596005-2-0 and 4 x

Mle, Emile.Notre-Dame de Chartres.New York: Harper & Row, 1983.

Miller, Malcolm. Chartres Cathedral.New York: Riverside Book Co., 1997. ISBN 978-1-878351-54-8.


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Wikimedia Commons hasmedia related to Cathedral

of Chartres.

Chartres Cathedral history and information

(http://www.chartrescathedral.net/)

University of Pittsburgh photo collection

(http://images.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/i/image/image-idx?c=chartres&page=index)

Chartres Cathedral at Sacred Destinations (http://sacred-destinations.com/france/chartres-cathedral)

About the labyrinth (http://www.mymaze.de/chartres_technisch_e.htm) (English)

Details of the Zodiac and other Chartres windows (http://www.paradoxplace.com/Photo%20Pages/France

/Chartres/Zodiac_Window/Chartres_Zodiacs.htm)

Chartres Cathedral on the Corpus of Medieval Narrative Art (http://www.medievalart.org.uk/Chartres

/Chartres_default.htm) Panel-by-panel photographs of many of the windows.

Description of the outer portals (http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/chartreswest/centralportal.html)

Retrieved 3 08 2008

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chartres_Cathedral&oldid=618672084"

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