CHARTRES

CATHEDRAL
(NOTRE DAME)
CHARTRES, FRANCE
 CHARTRES
• CA THEDRAL
Chartres Cathedral, is Gothic cathedral located in the town of Chartres,
northwestern France.
• Generally ranked as one of the three chief examples of Gothic French
architecture (along with Amiens Cathedral and Reims Cathedral )
• It is noted not only for its architectural innovations but also for its numerous
sculptures and its much-celebrated stained glass.
• The oldest parts of the cathedral are Royal Portal, which are remnants of a
church that was mostly destroyed by fire in 1194.
• The present cathedral was constructed on the foundations of the earlier
church and consecrated in 1260.
• In many ways, the cathedral’s design resembles those of its contemporaries, especially tall arcades, unusually
narrow and huge the massive weight of which required using flying buttresses
 CHARTRES
CATHEDRAL
INTERIOR
• It is built of limestone and stands some 112 feet (34 meters) high and is
427 feet (130 meters) long.
• 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 semicircular
apse.
• The nave and transepts are flanked by single aisles, broadening to a double-
aisled ambulatory around the choir and apse.
 CHARTRES
CATHEDRAL
ELEVATION
• The elevation of the nave is three is three-storied with arcade, triforium and
clerestory levels
• By avoiding 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

LABYRINTH AT CHARTRES CATHEDRAL

• The labyrinth set into the floor stones in the nave
of Chartres Cathedral may be the world’s most
recognized and famous path, yet it is surrounded
in mystery.
• Thought to be representation of the spiritual
quest of the pilgrim traveling to the holy land,
labyrinths like this began appearing in Europe in
the 12th century, mostly in Italy.
• The labyrinth at Chartres is a little over 42 feet in
diameter
 CHARTRES
CATHEDRAL
WINDOW
• 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.
• 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.

 CLERESTORY WINDOWS
• The majority of the windows now visible at Chartres were made
and installed between 1205 and 1240,but 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 in the west façade
• All three of these windows were originally made around 1145
but were restored in the early 13th century and again in the
19th.
• The other 12th-century window, perhaps the most famous at
Chartres, is the so-called « Notre-Dame de la Belle-Verriere »,
found in the first bay of the choir after the south transept.
 CHARTRES
CA THEDRAL
ROSE WINDOW
• The cathedral has three large rose windows.
• The western rose, made c.1215 and 12 m in diameter shows the Last Judgment –
a traditional theme for west façades.
• The north transept rose (10.5 m diameter, made c.1235), like much of the sculpture
in the north porch beneath it, is dedicated to the Virgin.
• The south transept rose (10.5 m diameter, made c.1225–30) is dedicated to Christ,
who is shown in the central oculus, right hand raised in benediction, surrounded by
adoring angels.

South
transept
rose window

North transept
rose window Western
transept rose
window