June 4, 2015    A visit to Chartres and beyond

I started off by the best sleep in weeks!  Maybe white wine, onion soup and creme brûlée is a prerequisite that I don't mind repeating!

After a wonderful breakfast  we were off on another adventure.  Chartres Cathedral was closed when we were here in 1972, so we were both looking forward to it,  Even though it took us two hours to get there, the cathedral was full of scaffolding for the restoration, and that we only had an hour inside, it was so worth it and not a disappointment by any means.

In earlier times  Chartres hoped to be the capital of France instead of Paris  and is a delight...smaller but very historic and quaint...with a population of 49,000.   

Our local guide, Christine, was easy to understand, knew her subject, kept all of our interest, and was excited about the cathedral.  As we arrived there were many school groups from more boisterous Jr. high student to darling kindergarteners who walked hand in hand with their partners and were accompanied by several chaperones. 

We were given "whisperers" which allowed us to hear Christine very clearly.  Beautiful Chartres is a combination of Romanesque and Gothic architectures which surprisingly works very well.....although occurred by circumstances due to war and fires!  Like a Russian matroyshka it is the result of five churches , four that would have been destroyed.  Each time it was rebuilt it was made larger so if all survived it would have been five churches in one.  

Unlike any other cathedral I have visited, this one is dedicated to the Mother Mary.  Surprisingly more money was donated  toward her than other cathedrals. It contains 4000 sculptures and 176 stained  glass windows.  Sadly we would see only 30 % of them but of course that was a LOT! 

All is dedicated to "The Earthly Palace of the Queen of Heaven". The first two churches there were destroyed by invaders...the second by the Vikings.   

It not only has the most windows of any other cathedral, it was the fastest built... Only 28 years from 1194 to 1232!  Think of how amazing that is in that most cathedrals take way over 100 years!  There is no body part relic like in other churches, rather it is the veil Mary wore when she gave birth to her Son. At one time the fourth cathedral was hit by lightening and burned to the ground.  The roof in those days was made of wood and fires were commonplace.  People were so upset that they had lost their beautiful church (except the right Romanesque spire and front facade) and especially that they had lost their lone relic, the veil of Mary.  On the third day, however two of the priests who had been down below in one of the knaves by the crypt came out of the rubble with that very relic.  The people were ecstatic and donations came from everywhere to rebuild a proper place for the relic,  it is now on display so we could see it...it is archive safe and fireproof and is displayed in one of the knaves. 

At one time the cathedral was many beautiful colors; it turned dark with the pollution but is being cleaned as are all the windows.   Much of it is completed so we can see what a beautiful bright treat to the eye it will some day be.  The windows cost as much as 150k each to clean and is done by Q tips and baby shampoo. 

As they cleaned the walls they expected they could only clean one knave as there would probably need lots of restorative work. To their surprise and delight there was no damage beneath the black and it cleaned up so much easier than they expected so have taken on cleaning it all....even the lacy and so elaborate choir screen with its amazing statuary that tells the story of the birth of Mary, the birth of Jesus and the crucifixion  of Christ. Since so many parishioners could not read the Bible or even have a copy, the people studied the statues and stained glass that told the Bible stories in glass and stone.

During Gothic times they used flying buttresses to support the roof whereas during Romanesque time the walls were the support.  Christine pointed out the arches that go up to the ceiling with the heavy keystones at the point they met.  She had four of us come and be those arches and of course with little help she could  push down the keystone and the arches could not hold.  Then she called four more of us to be the buttresses.  They pushed against the shoulders of those arches folks and Christine could not push down the keystone even if she hung on it!  It was a perfect way to show how this architecture worked!

Since the roof is not supported by the walls it allows almost the ENTIRETY of the walls to be the beautiful windows.  She also showed us windows that had been donated by the Americans and the Germans as well as many different skill unions,  instead of signing them, they put representative pictures at the very bottom in the glass.  We saw the Americans' window that has an eagle as well as skyscrapers, but there were masons with people cutting, carrying and placing the stone, and others showing their livelihood.  There was even one that personified each month and corresponding zodiac. 

The earlier Romanesque windows used the aqua Blue cobalt oxide blue whereas the newer Gothic went for the dark manganese blue.I must say that although I love the dark manganese blue in glass, the pictures were easier to see and much more alluring in the lighter cobalt oxide. 

 Cristina showed us a picture of a "wheel" used to lift the heavy stones in those earlier times.  It is quite amazing they could do this without the motors, and power tools we have nowadays.

 By the end of the tour we were ready for lunch and there were so many wonderful choices.  Our six opted for the creperrie!  More choices...some savory and some sweet... we decided to each buy a different one and share with our spouse.  Our bacon, cheese, potato  buckwheat crepe was awesome and followed with a chocolate and almond crepe....hard to beat and Vic and Michael found that the local beer seemed to go just fine with them!

 From there it was to the bus for our trip to St Malo.  Most took naps the first hour but I typed this while it was fresh in my mind. 

 Anne woke everyone for a great DVD showing all the things we will see in our trips in Brittany. It whets our appetite for what is yet to come.

 

 

Chartres Cathedral

 

The Gothic Spire On The Left, Romnesqie On The Right

 

Above The Main Door
Statues Around hrist Represent Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

 

Leona, Bruce and Diana Waiting For The Guide

 

The Local Guide Teaches All of Us About The History of This Beautiful Cathedral
To Enable Us To Understand What We Will Be Seeing Here

 

Choir Screen

 

The Shawl of Mary

 

Alter

On The Right, The First Window In The Cathedral To Be Cleaned. Check Out Mary In The Upper Middle.
The Artist Portrayed Jesus As A Little Man Rather Than A Baby.

 

Leona With The Local Beer
In The Town After The Chartres Catheral Tour We Went To The Creperrie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

^Grove's Dinner Starter

 

< Mike's Dinner                     

 

Bedroom...                                      And There's The Tub But Where's The Toilet?

Our Hotel In St. Malo

Oh, In The Closet...                                            And There's The Sink And Bidet