Notre Dame de Rouen. The façade of the Gothic Church in France. Photographer: Hippo1947. Licence: SHUTTERSTOCK.

Wednesday 7 August 2013

Chartres Cathedral (Part Four).


Text and Illustration from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.


File:Cathédrale de Chartres - Chapelle de Vendôme.JPG


English: Chartres Cathedral. Stained-Glass Window of the Vendome Chapel, circa 1415.
Français: Cathédrale de Chartres - Vitraux de la chapelle Vendôme.
Photo: August 2010.
Source: Own work.
Author: MOSSOT.
(Wikimedia Commons)


In the last decade, the fabric of the Cathedral has seen an almost continuous programme of cleaning and restoration. In recent years, a major project has been underway to clean all the Stone Vaults of the Choir and Nave and repaint them in emulation of the 13th-Century polychromy.

The Cathedral is still the Seat of the Bishop of Chartres, of the Diocese of Chartres, though in the Ecclesiastical Province of Tours.

The Plan is Cruciform. A Two-Bay Narthex, at the Western End, opens into a Seven-Bay Nave, leading to The Crossing, from which wide Transepts extend Three Bays each to North and South. East of The Crossing are four rectangular Bays, terminating in a semi-circular Apse. 

The Nave and Transepts are flanked by Single Aisles, broadening to a Double-Aisled Ambulatory around the Choir and Apse. From the Ambulatory, radiate three deep semi-circular Chapels (overlying the deep Chapels of Fulbert's 11th-Century Crypt) and four much shallower ones. Of the latter, one was effectively lost in the 1320s, when the Chapel of Saint Piat was built.


File:Triforium Chartres.jpg


Deutsch: Wandfläche mit Triforium.
English: Three tiers of wall structure of Chartres Cathedral
Arcade; Triforium; Clerestory (with 2 windows united by a small, round, Rosette window).
Photo: August 2006.
Author: BjörnTBT from German Wikipedia.
(Wikimedia Commons)


The elevation of the Nave is Three-Storeyed, with Arcade, Triforium and Clerestory levels. By eschewing the Gallery level, that featured in many Early-Gothic Cathedrals (normally between Arcade and Triforium), the designers were able to make the richly-glazed Arcade and Clerestory levels larger and almost equal in height, with just a narrow dark Triforium in between. 

Although not the first example of this Three-Part Elevation, Chartres was perhaps the first of the great Churches to make a success of it and to use the same design consistently throughout. The result was a far greater area of window openings. These windows were entirely glazed with densely-coloured glass, which resulted in a relatively dark Interior – but one which accentuated the richness of the glass and the coloured light that filtered through them.

Increasing the size of the windows meant reducing the wall area, considerably, something which was made possible only by the extensive use of Flying Buttresses on the outside. These Buttresses supported the considerable lateral thrusts resulting from the 34m-high Stone Vaults, higher and wider than any attempted before 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 attached Columns, or Shafts, around a Pier, in a way that worked aesthetically – but which also satisfied the desire for structural logic, that characterised French High-Gothic.




Chartres Cathedral marks the high point of French Gothic art.
The vast Nave, in pure ogival style, the Porches adorned with fine sculptures from the middle of the 12th-Century, and the magnificent 12th- and 13th-Century Stained-Glass Windows, all in remarkable condition, combine to make it a masterpiece.
Available on YouTube at


The Nave, at Chartres, features alternating Round and Octagonal 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. This Pier design, known as Pilier Cantonné, was to prove highly influential and subsequently featured in a number of other High-Gothic Churches.

Although the sculpture, on the Portals, at Chartres is generally of a high standard, the various carved elements inside, such as the Capitals and String Courses, are relatively poorly finished (when compared, for example, with those at Reims or Soissons) – the reason is simply that the Portals were carved from the finest Parisian limestone, or ' 'calcaire' ', while the internal Capitals were carved from the local Berchere stone, that is hard to work and can be brittle.

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of Chartres Cathedral is the extent to which architectural structure has been adapted to meet the needs of Stained Glass. The use of a Three-Part Elevation, with external buttressing, allowed for far larger windows than earlier designs, particularly at the Clerestory level. Most Cathedrals of the period had a mixture of windows containing plain, or grisaille, glass and windows containing dense, Stained Glass panels, with the result that the brightness 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 dense Stained Glass, creating a relatively dark, but richly coloured, interior, in which the light, filtering through the myriad narrative and symbolic windows, was the main source of illumination.


File:Chartres.jpg


The West Façade (Portail Royale), 
Chartres Cathedral.
Photo: 12 November 2005.
Source: Own work.
Author: Photo:Nina Aldin Thune User:Nina-no.
(Wikimedia Commons)


The majority of the windows, now visible at Chartres, were made and installed between 1205 and 1240, however, four Lancets preserve panels of Romanesque glass from the 12th-Century, which survived the fire of 1195. Three of these are located beneath the Rose Window in the West Façade; the Passion window, to the South, the Infancy of Christ, in the centre, and a Tree of Jesse, to the North. 

All three of these windows were originally made around 1145, but were restored in the Early-13th-Century and, again, in the 19th-Century. The other 12th-century window, perhaps the most famous at Chartres, is the, so-called, Belle Verrière, found in the first Bay of the Choir, after the South Transept. This window is actually a composite; the upper part, showing the Virgin and Child surrounded by adoring Angels, dates from around 1180 and was probably positioned at the centre of the Apse in the earlier building. 

The Virgin is depicted wearing a blue 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 sapientiae ('Throne of Wisdom'), which also appears on the Portail Royale, is based on the famous cult figure kept in the Crypt. The lower part or the window, showing scenes from the Infancy of Christ, dates from the main glazing campaign, around 1225.




Cathedral of Notre Dame de Chartres.
Available on YouTube at


PART FIVE FOLLOWS.


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