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English: Notre-Dame de la Belle Verrière.
Stained-Glass Window in the Choir of Chartres cathedral.
The lower part depicts the Temptation of Christ.
The two following parts relate the Marriage at Cana.
12th-Century (parts with the red background) and 13th-Century.
Français: « Notre-Dame de la Belle Verrière », vitrail du chœur de la Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres. Le registre inférieur évoque la Tentation du Christ. Les deux registres suivants relatent les Noces de Cana. XIIème siècle (panneaux sur fond rouge) et XIIIème siècle.
Photo: 7 February 2009.
Source: Own work.
Author: Eusebius (Guillaume Piolle).
(Wikimedia Commons)
It is important to remember that the builders were not working on a clean site, but would have had to clear back the rubble and surviving parts of the old Church, as they built the new. Nevertheless, work progressed rapidly. The South Porch, with most of its sculpture, was installed by 1210, and, by 1215, the North Porch had been completed and the Western Rose Window installed.
The Nave High Vaults were erected in the 1220s; the Canons moved into their new Stalls in 1221, under a temporary Roof at the level of the Clerestory, and the Transept Roses were erected over the subsequent two decades. The High Vaults, over the Choir, were not built until the last years of the 1250s, as was re-discovered in the first decade of the 21st-Century.
Each arm of the Transept was originally meant to support two Towers, two more were to flank the Choir, and there was to have been a central Lantern over The Crossing – nine Towers in all. Plans for a Crossing Tower were abandoned in 1221 and The Crossing was Vaulted over.
In 1506, lightning destroyed the North Spire, which was rebuilt in the 'Flamboyant' style by local mason, Jehan de Beauce (who also worked on the Abbey Church in Vendôme). It is 113 metres high and took seven years to construct. After its completion, Jehan continued working on the Cathedral, and began the monumental Screen around the Choir Stalls, which was not completed until the beginning of the 18th-Century.
Each arm of the Transept was originally meant to support two Towers, two more were to flank the Choir, and there was to have been a central Lantern over The Crossing – nine Towers in all. Plans for a Crossing Tower were abandoned in 1221 and The Crossing was Vaulted over.
Work on the remaining six Towers continued at a slower pace for some decades, until it was decided to leave them without Spires (as at Laon Cathedral, and elsewhere). 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.
Compared with other Mediaeval Churches, relatively few changes have been made to the Cathedral since its Consecration. In 1323, a substantial two-storey construction was added at the Eastern End of the Choir, with a Chapel, dedicated to Saint Piat, in the Upper Floor, accessed by a staircase opening onto the Ambulatory (the Chapel of Saint Piat is normally closed to visitors, although it occasionally houses temporary exhibitions). The chamber, below the Chapel, served the Canons as their Chapter House.
Shortly after 1417, a small Chapel was placed between the Buttresses of the South Nave for the Count of Vendôme. At the same time, the small Organ, that had been built in the Nave Aisle, was moved up into the Triforium, where it remains, though some time in the 16th-Century it was 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 rebuild the 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.
Chartres Cathedral.
Sacred Geometry.
Available on YouTube at
Shortly after 1417, a small Chapel was placed between the Buttresses of the South Nave for the Count of Vendôme. At the same time, the small Organ, that had been built in the Nave Aisle, was moved up into the Triforium, where it remains, though some time in the 16th-Century it was 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 rebuild the 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.
Français: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres, Eure-et-Loir, Centre, France.
La clôture du chœur.
English: Chartres Cathedral, Eure-et-Loir, Centre, France.
The monumental Screen, around the Choir.
Photo: 28 September 2008.
Source: Own work.
Author: Tango7174.
(Wikimedia Commons)
In 1506, lightning destroyed the North Spire, which was rebuilt in the 'Flamboyant' style by local mason, Jehan de Beauce (who also worked on the Abbey Church in Vendôme). It is 113 metres high and took seven years to construct. After its completion, Jehan continued working on the Cathedral, and began the monumental Screen around the Choir Stalls, which was not completed until the beginning of the 18th-Century.
In 1757, a number of changes were made to the Interior, to increase the visibility of the Mass, in accordance with changing religious customs. The jubé (Choir Screen), that separated the Liturgical Choir from the Nave, was torn down and the present Stalls built (some of the magnificent sculpture from this Screen was later found buried underneath the Paving and preserved, though it is not on public display). At the same time, some of the Stained-Glass in the Clerestory was removed and replaced with grisaille windows, greatly increasing the illumination of the High Altar.
The iron girder structure (known as the charpente de fer)
supporting the Roof of Chartres Cathedral (view from Western End).
Photo: 18 August 2009.
Source: Own work.
Author: StuartLondon.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Cathedral was damaged in the French Revolution, when a mob began to destroy the sculpture on the North Porch. This is one of the few occasions on which the anti-religious fervour was stopped by the townsfolk. The Revolutionary Committee decided to destroy the Cathedral, via explosives, and asked a local architect to organise it.
He saved the building, by pointing out that the vast amount of rubble from the demolished building would so clog the streets it would take years to clear away. However, when metal was needed for the army, the brass plaque, in the centre of the Labyrinth, was removed and melted down – our only record of what was on the plaque was Felibien's description.
The Cathedral of Chartres was, therefore, neither destroyed nor looted during the French Revolution and the numerous restorations have not diminished its reputation as a triumph of Gothic Art. The Cathedral has been fortunate in being spared the damage suffered by so many during the Wars of Religion and the Revolution, though the lead Roof was removed to make bullets and the Directorate threatened to destroy the building, as its upkeep, without a Roof, had become too onerous.
Chartres Cathedral.
Sacred Geometry.
Available on YouTube at
http://youtu.be/_3PbecRbggg.
http://youtu.be/_3PbecRbggg.
All the glass from the Cathedral was removed in 1939, just before the Germans invaded France, and it was cleaned after the War and re-leaded before 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.
Colonel Welborn Barton Griffith, Jr. questioned the strategy of destroying the Cathedral and volunteered to go behind enemy lines to find out whether the German Army was occupying the Cathedral and using it as an observation 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 was clear 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.
PART FOUR FOLLOWS.
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