Chartres Cathedral
June19, 2024
After our visit to Omaha Beach and the wreath ceremony, our bus took us to our hotel in Paris, stopping for lunch along the way at sort of a convenience store. We had dinner together that evening in Restaurant Arawukas, near the hotel. Wednesday was Juneteenth and my maternal grandmother’s birthday. Our bus took us to Chartres Cathedral, where we had an excellent two-hour guided tour. I had gone there in 1993. It was beautiful but rather dingy. They have cleaned the stained glass and most of the walls since then. It is at least the fifth cathedral to stand on this spot since the fourth century with a history of fires and wars. In 1944 an American Colonel ignored the orders to bomb it.
In 1506 lightning destroyed the North Tower. It was rebuilt in the Flamboyant style.
The 24-hour clock is from 1520.
The extensive tour told us how to "read" the story told by the windows. Sometimes the story is muddled, as the one that confuses Mary Magdalene with half the women in the New Testament. Over 150 of the original 176 windows have survived. Stained glass windows present challenges for photography. I was pleased that I got some good shots. I am often shooting from some distance and sometimes at funny angles that need to be corrected on the computer. While pictures cannot duplicate the experience of seeing them in person, they do give you the opportunity to see them as if you were closer to them. Most notable for Chartres windows is the blue color. The west wall and both north and south transepts have rose windows. Under the West rose window are the Passion of Christ, the life of Christ, and the Jesse Window — the genealogy of Christ — from the twelfth century.
The South Transept windows:
A window on the north side of the Nave tells the life of Noah. I got the best detail from that.
The east end:
The sculpture is in the Baroque style.
The Nave floor has a labyrinth. Periodically they clear the chairs away and let people walk it. The town has incorporated the design into their manhole covers.
The carvings on the choir wall depict the lives of Mary and of Christ. The forty scenes were sculpted in the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries.
The relic that made Chartres a pilgrim destination is the Veil of Mary that she wore for the Annunciation and/or labor and birth of Christ. The folded piece of silk is displayed in a highly reflective glass case. I have no idea how common it was for poor women of Nazareth or Bethlehem to wear silk. The cloth survived the big fire, so that was considered another reason to venerate the relic.
The next page continues with pictures from the area around the cathedral and details about our concert.