Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.
English: A sunlit Chartres Cathedral.
Français: Cathédrale de Chartres, avec la gare
de le même ville, éclairage de coucher de soleil.
Photo: 21 January 2012.
Source: Own work.
Author: Ireneed.
(Wikimedia Commons)
English: Chartres Cathedral.
The Nave Ceiling.
Français: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres.
Voûte de la nef.
Photo: 24 March 2012.
Source: Own work.
Author: MMensler.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Central Portal is a more conventional representation of the End of Time, as described in the Book of Revelation. In the centre of the Tympanum, is Christ within a mandorla, surrounded by the four symbols of the Evangelists (the Tetramorph). The Lintel shows the Twelve Apostles, while the Archivolts show the twenty-four Elders of the Apocalypse.
Although the upper parts of the three Portals are treated separately, two sculptural elements run horizontally across the Façade, uniting its different parts. Most obvious are the jamb Statues, affixed to the Columns flanking the Doorways – tall, slender, standing figures of Kings and Queens, from whom the Portail Royal derived its name.
Although, in the 18th- and 19th-Century, these figures were mistakenly identified as the Merovingian Monarchs of France (thus attracting the opprobrium of Revolutionary iconoclasts), they almost certainly represent the Kings and Queens of the Old Testament – another standard iconographic feature of Gothic Portals.
shown within a Mandorla shape
in a Mediaeval illuminated manuscript.
This Mandorla image appears in the centre
of the Tympanum of the
Central Portal of Chartres Cathedral.
Evangelistar von Speyer, um 1220
Manuscript in the Badische Landesbibliothek,
Karlsruhe, Germany Cod. Bruchsal 1, Bl. 1v
Shows Christ in vesica shape surrounded by
the "animal" symbols of the four evangelists.
Date: Circa 1220.
Source: http://www.blb-karlsruhe.de/.
This file has been extracted from another image:
This File: 1 October 2006.
User: AnonMoos.
Author: Mediaeval.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Less obvious than the jamb Statues, but far more intricately carved, is the Frieze that stretches all across the Façade in the sculpted Capitals on top of the jamb Columns. Carved into these Capitals is a very lengthy narrative depicting the Life of The Virgin and the Life and Passion of Christ.
The Te Deum.
As per the recent Post on Rievaulx Abbey,
Zephyrinus respectfully suggests listening to
this YouTube offering, whilst perusing the
photographs, herewith, of Chartres Cathedral.
Be aware that this Te Deum would have been sung on
many occasions at Chartres Cathedral over the centuries.
Available on YouTube at
The overall iconographic themes are clearly laid-out; the veneration of Mary in the centre, the Incarnation of Her Son on the left and Old Testament pre-figurations and prophecies on the right. One major exception to this scheme is the presence of large Statues of Saint Modesta (a local Martyr) and Saint Potentian on the North-West corner of the Porch, close to a small doorway where Pilgrims, visiting the Crypt (where the Relics were stored), would once have emerged, blinking into the light.
English: Gothic Statues in the Portail Royal.
Français: Portail central du porche occidental de la cathédrale de Chartres.
Photo: 18 June 2006.
Source: Own work.
Author: Urban.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Photo: 15 July 2008.
Source: Own work.
Author: Harmonia Amanda.
(Wikimedia Commons)
English: Chartres Cathedral of Notre-Dame.
The North Rose Window and Portals.
Français: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres.
Rose Nord et Portail.
Photo: 14 January 2012.
Source: Own work.
Author: MMensler.
(Wikimedia Commons)
English: The Flying Buttresses of the Nave of Chartres Cathedral.
Français: Les arcs-boutants de la nef de la Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres.
Photo: 7 February 2009.
Source: Own work.
Author: Florestan.
(Wikimedia Commons)
If the North Transept Portals are all about the time leading up to Christ's Incarnation, and the West Façade is about the events of His life and Passion, then the iconography of the South Transept Portals addresses the time from Christ's death until His Second Coming. The Central Portal concentrates on the Last Judgement and the Apostles, the Left Portal on the Lives of Martyrs, and the Right Portal on Confessor Saints (an arrangement also reflected in the windows of the Apse).
Just like their Northern counterparts, the South Transept Portals open into deep Porches, which greatly extend the space available for sculptural embellishment. A large number of subsidiary scenes depict conventional themes, like the Labours of the Months and the Signs of the Zodiac, personifications of the Virtues and Vices, and, also, further scenes from the Lives of the Martyrs (Left Porch) and Confessors (Right Porch).
Just like their Northern counterparts, the South Transept Portals open into deep Porches, which greatly extend the space available for sculptural embellishment. A large number of subsidiary scenes depict conventional themes, like the Labours of the Months and the Signs of the Zodiac, personifications of the Virtues and Vices, and, also, further scenes from the Lives of the Martyrs (Left Porch) and Confessors (Right Porch).
Chartres Cathedral.
Available on YouTube at
In the Middle Ages, the Cathedral also functioned as an important Cathedral School. In the Early-11th-Century, Bishop Fulbert established Chartres as one of the leading Schools in Europe. Although the role of Fulbert, as a scholar and teacher, has been questioned, perhaps his greatest talent was as an administrator, who established 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.
Français: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres, Eure-et-Loir, Centre, France.
La chapelle Saint Cœur de Marie.
English: Chartres Cathedral, Eure-et-Loir, Centre, France.
The Chapel of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Photo: 28 September 2008.
Source: Own work.
Author: Tango7174.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Great scholars were attracted to the Cathedral School, including Thierry of Chartres, William of Conches, and the Englishman, John of Salisbury. These men were at the forefront of the intense intellectual rethinking, that culminated in what is now known as the 12th-Century Renaissance, pioneering the Scholastic philosophy that came to dominate Mediaeval thinking throughout Europe.
By the Early-12th-Century, the status of the School of Chartres was on the wane. It was gradually eclipsed by the newly-emerging University of Paris, particularly at the School of the Abbey of Saint Victoire (the 'Victorines'). By the middle of the century, the importance of Chartres Cathedral had begun to shift away from education and towards pilgrimage, a changing emphasis reflected in the subsequent architectural developments.
By the Early-12th-Century, the status of the School of Chartres was on the wane. It was gradually eclipsed by the newly-emerging University of Paris, particularly at the School of the Abbey of Saint Victoire (the 'Victorines'). By the middle of the century, the importance of Chartres Cathedral had begun to shift away from education and towards pilgrimage, a changing emphasis reflected in the subsequent architectural developments.
La Cathedrale De Chartres.
Available on YouTube at
Orson Welles famously used Chartres as a visual backdrop and inspiration for a montage sequence in his film, F For Fake. Welles’ semi-autobiographical narration spoke to the power of art in culture and how the work may be more important than the identity of its creators.
Feeling that the beauty of Chartres, and its unknown artisans and architects, epitomised this sentiment, Welles, standing outside the Cathedral and looking at it, eulogises: "Now this has been standing here for centuries. The premier work of man perhaps in the whole Western World and it’s without a signature: Chartres.
Chartres Cathedral.
The Clerestory and Flying Buttresses.
Photo: August 2006.
Author: BT from German Wikipedia.
(Wikimedia Commons)
"A celebration to God’s glory and to the dignity of man. All that’s left, most artists seem to feel these days, is man. Naked, poor, forked, radish. There aren't any celebrations. Ours, the scientists keep telling us, is a universe, which is disposable. You know it might be just this one anonymous glory of all things, this rich stone forest, this epic chant, this gaiety, this grand choiring 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 in us, to accomplish.
English: Chartres Cathedral at night.
Français: France Eure-et-Loir Chartres Cathédrale vue nocturne.
Photographie prise par GIRAUD Patrick.
Source: GIRAUD Patrick.
Author: GIRAUD Patrick.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Français: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres,
Eure-et-Loir, Centre, France. La façade nord.
English: Chartres Cathedral, Eure-et-Loir,
Centre, France. The North Façade.
Photo: 27 September 2008.
Source: Own work.
Author: Tango7174.
(Wikimedia Commons)
"Our works in stone, in paint, in print are spared, some of them for a few decades, or a millennium or two, but everything must finally fall in war or wear away into the ultimate and universal ash. The triumphs and the frauds, the treasures and the fakes. A fact of life. We’re going to die. “Be of good heart,” cry the dead artists out of the living past. Our songs will all be silenced – but what of it? Go on singing. Maybe a man’s name doesn't 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 Roman Catholic spiritual-image world, and it is magnificent . . . That Cathedral talks to me about the spiritual information of the world. It's a place for meditation, just walking around, just sitting, just looking at those beautiful things".
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 Roman Catholic spiritual-image world, and it is magnificent . . . That Cathedral talks to me about the spiritual information of the world. It's a place for meditation, just walking around, just sitting, just looking at those beautiful things".
English: Chartres Cathedral against the sun.
Français: coucher de soleil sur la cathedrale de Chartres.
Photo: 10 April 2010.
Source: Own work.
Author: Pauden28.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Joris-Karl Huysmans includes detailed interpretation of the symbolism underlying the art of Chartres Cathedral in his 1898 semi-autobiographical novel, La cathédrale.
Chartres was the primary basis for the fictional Cathedral in David Macaulay's "Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction", and the animated special based on this book.
Chartres was a major character in the religious thriller, "Gospel Truths", by J. G. Sandom. The book used the Cathedral's Architecture and History as clues in the search for a lost Gospel.
Chartres Cathedral,
from the South-East.
Photo: 2005.
Source: Own work.
Author: User:TTaylor.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres from the South.
A masterpiece of Gothic Architecture.
Date: 25 August 2005.
Author: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benutzer:Honge , 25/8/2005.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Popular action-adventure video game "Assassin's Creed" features a climbable Cathedral modelled heavily on Chartres Cathedral.
One of the attractions at Chartres Cathedral is the Chartres Light Celebration, when, not only is the Cathedral lit, but so are many buildings throughout the town, as a celebration of electrification.
THIS CONCLUDES THE ARTICLE ON CHARTRES CATHEDRAL.
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