Chartres Cathedral

Chartres is the cathedral other cathedrals are measured against: after fire took the earlier church in 1194, the town rebuilt at miraculous speed - the essential structure rose in barely a generation - which is why the building reads as one coherent Gothic thought, flying buttresses to vaults. Its glory is glass: around 170 medieval windows survive, the fullest ensemble anywhere, saturated with the deep 'Chartres blue' that glassmakers have chased ever since, telling scripture and trade-guild life across thousands of panels. Two utterly different spires frame the west front - one plain Romanesque, one flamboyant 16th-century - and the nave floor carries the famous labyrinth, walked by pilgrims when the chairs are cleared on set days. The cathedral guards the Veil of the Virgin relic that made it a pilgrimage power, and it entered the UNESCO list in 1979 among France's first inscriptions.

History

At least five cathedrals have stood on this site since the 4th century: one was burned in 743, the next by Danish pirates in 858, and after the fire of 7 September 1020 Bishop Fulbert rebuilt with gifts from across Europe, including one from Cnut the Great; the crypt of his church survives, as does the Saint Lubin chapel of an earlier one. The north tower was begun in the mid-1120s, the Royal Portal carved from about 1136, and the south spire, finished about 1165, reached 105 metres, one of the tallest in Europe. After the fire of 10 June 1194 the choir and nave were rebuilt in the newest style on the old plan, keeping the west towers, facade and crypt, mostly between 1194 and 1220 and with perhaps 300 men on site at a time, which explains the unity of the design; the Flamboyant north spire followed in 1507-1513, and in 1979 UNESCO listed the cathedral as the high point of French Gothic art (Wikipedia, Chartres Cathedral).

What's there

• The stained glass - some 170 medieval windows in unmatched blue.
• The two spires - Romanesque restraint beside flamboyant Gothic.
• The labyrinth - the nave's medieval pilgrimage path, walkable on set days.
• The sculpted portals - the Royal Portal's serene 12th-century figures.

When to go

Any season - the glass performs on every bright day, and the interior asks no weather. Fridays in the warmer months are the usual labyrinth-walking days when the chairs come up, and summer evenings light the old town with projections.

Things to know

An hour's train from Paris filters the crowds - Chartres feels calm beside the capital's sights. Ongoing restoration has brightened some bays and scaffolding migrates around others; the labyrinth is usually chair-covered outside its set days, so check before building the trip around it. Bring binoculars for the high windows.

Nearby

The old town's tanners' quarter on the Eure, and Paris an hour away.

Key facts