Cathedral #5: Chartres

As I mentioned before, we visited quite a few gothic cathedrals when my parents were visiting over Easter. The last one on our circuit was another trip to Chartres cathedral. We visited last summer and enjoyed spectacular weather. Though the weather left something to be desired this trip, we gained a new appreciation for the construction of the cathedral after seeing it in such close succession to the other cathedrals we visited: Notre Dame Paris, Reims, St Denis, and Tours. Notre Dame de Chartres is particularly famous for two reasons: 1) It has the largest collection of medieval stained glass. 2) It was constructed in only ~60 years, as opposed to most other cathedrals that took 200+.

The stained glass is truly amazing:

And I liked these windows in particular, which show the Gospel writers (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) being carried by the authors of the "Major Prophets" (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel) to illustrate the New Testament standing on the foundation of the Old Testament... pretty cool:

The cathedral, like the others, boasts the typical gothic features: shaped like a Roman cross, with rib-vaulted ceilings, pointed arches, and plenty of windows:

But due to its hasty construction, this cathedral was a bit simpler than many of the others. With less ornamentation, the cathedral's beauty came more from its proportions and geometry (and its uneven flooring that revealed the wear of centuries):

In fact, we did catch a new experience on this trip as the chairs had been moved out of a portion of the cathedral to reveal the labyrinth constructed on the floor. Labyrinths like this have been used for centuries as a representation of the spiritual pathway to God. Many pilgrims would travel miles to Chartres and then proceed along the path of the labyrinth either on their knees or feet while praying and contemplating their path to God. Here, I left the shutter open for quite some time to capture the journey of the pilgrims (see the feet in the foreground), but the guy who had reached the center really made my picture as he stood still throughout the time lapse:

My favorite feature of the cathedral might be the choir screen. Though it is a bit later than the rest of the church (which is 13th century), it is truly gorgeous stonework. It may contain three wisemen who look a bit like the three musketeers:

But it definitely boasts lovely scenes from Christ's life:

Sweet little Oliver was having trouble falling asleep, so we gave him some reading material (and yes, those of you who recognize the blue book with yellow writing, it was Rick... our friend):

Also interesting (and a bit disappointing, actually) was the behind-schedule renovations. The cleaning of the stones was AH-MA-ZING. Unfortunately, it was a very small portion that had been cleaned, and much of it was covered up. In this photo, the line on the right-hand side is actually the cleaned/uncleaned portions, not a shadow:

A couple of the little side chapels had been cleaned, as well, and they were beautiful:

The outside revealed the simplicity of the design and the wear of acid rain over the years:

But the cleaned portions (few though they were) were spectacular:

The back boasted the tell-tale flying buttresses:

And the porches of the transept had some very intricate carvings that seemed to be made of a different stone - not sure of the story there:

Unfortunately, the western facade (with the two towers) was covered in scaffolding, but I managed to capture them from the back. Interestingly, the two towers at Chartres don't match at all:

After a nice lunch in town and another walk through the cathedral, we strolled around the back where you find a beautiful view of the town:

Definitely an EXCELLENT way to spend time with the grandparents:

Can't wait to see them again in August!