Chartres Cathedral
Chartres Cathedral (Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres[1]) is a great cathedral in Chartres, France. It was built in the Gothic architectural style over the burned ruins of an ongoing project to modernize a previous wood-roofed Romanesque church.[2]
The church was the center of Mariolatry in France as it housed a gift acquired from Constantinople by Charles the Bald, which was presumed to be the tunic worn by Virgin Mary at Jesus's nativity.[3] The old choir and the new facade that was begun in the previous year survived the fire, which also befell on a large part of the town on June 10, 1194, and along with them the tunic, which was preserved in the crypt below the Romanesque choir. With the priests' explanation to the townspeople that Mary wished to be restored in even greater magnificence, construction started anew right away.[2]
The limit placed on the nave's length by the fault that occurs to the east was made up for in height. In its transformation to the gothic style, the cathedral was given a new twin-tower facade with a large rose window which was installed above the three lancets of the new vestibule built before the fire, and an outer ambulatory was placed through the inner side of the Romanesque radiating chapels, making them protrude less.[2]
The Chartres Cathedral was consecrated in 1220, and services were held amidst the ongoing construction work which continued well until 1250.[2] Since 1979 the cathedral has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.[4]
Notes
- ↑ Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres, which translates as Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres, is different from Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris, which is colloquially known as Notre Dame de Paris
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Kostof, 1985. pp. 338
- ↑ Kostof, 1985. pp. 333
- ↑ Chartres Cathedral, UNESCO. Accessed 27 December 2012.