Tangeland: Paris - part 3 (Chartres Cathedral, part 1)

During our second day in Paris we spent most of our time outside of Paris. We all left the hotel, marching behind Professor Hatfield, and boarded the train to the southwest. The town of Chartres is a little over 50 miles outside of Paris. We would later take the same train back in towards Paris, stopping along the way in Versailles, about 10 miles outside of Paris.

The church, like everything else in Europe was under construction. Cathedrale Notre-Dame de Chartres, otherwise known as the Cathedral of Our Lady of Chartres, or Chartres Cathedral if you're into the whole brevity thing, was built between 1194 and 1220 and is one of the finest examples of the gothic style of architecture in France. There was a cathedral on this site for hundreds of years, but it burnt down. Then it burnt down again. And again. Anway, the 1220 rebuilding was very fast and led to the way it looks today, for the most part. The shorter tower was built in 1140 and the taller one was built in the 16th century and is 377 feet tall.

The church is also very famous for its stained glass windows. We don't see too much stained glass in Italy. And we would see much more stained glass later in this trip.

At the time of its building, Chartres had the highest vaults in France.

Chartres had been a very popular pilgrim destination even before the cathedral was built. Pilgrims would make their way around the church, stopping at the different chapels on the exterior walls.

The church has a relic that is supposed to be a tunic that belonged to Mary. It was supposedly given to the church by Charlemagne or Charles the Bald. It was thought to be lost in one of the fires that consumed the church, but it turned up when some priests emerged from the vaults underneath the church. It's a miracle!
I think it's funny that I read that Charlemagne got the tunic on a crusade in Jerusalem. I may be mistaken, but I don't think that Charlemagne ever made it to the Middle East and he died over 250 years before the First Crusade. That's why we librarians are taught not to trust wikipedia. Unless I am wrong (and I am never wrong), in which case I will apologize the the good folks at wikipedia.

This is part of the wall that surrounds the altar.

These are the windows behind the high altar (one is covered due to construction).

Here is one of the mighty pillars that lead up to the extremely high vaulted ceiling. I guess there's nothing to compare its mighty size to. But believe me, it's mighty alright.