Chartres, France
Chartres Cathedral
A masterpiece of High Gothic architecture southwest of Paris, famous for its original medieval stained glass and labyrinth.
You see the two spires from miles away, rising out of the wheat fields of the Beauce plain like something planted there by another age. Up close, the Royal Portal stops you — twelfth-century stone figures, elongated and calm, watching everyone who enters. Inside, the light changes everything. Chartres has more original medieval stained glass than any cathedral in Europe, and when the sun hits the south rose window the whole nave turns blue. That blue has a name — Chartres blue — and once you've seen it you'll recognize it anywhere. The floor labyrinth, laid in stone around 1200, is still walked by pilgrims on certain Fridays when the chairs are cleared. It's a single winding path to the center and back, not a maze. The crypt below is one of the largest in France, with a well that pre-dates Christianity on this site. People have been coming to this hilltop to pray for a very long time. The cathedral just gave it a roof.
Diocese: Diocese of Chartres
Style: High Gothic
What to See
Give the stained glass your full attention — bring binoculars if you have them. The three rose windows (west, north, south) are each extraordinary, but the lancet windows along the nave tell detailed Bible stories panel by panel. The labyrinth is open for walking on select Fridays from spring through fall; check the schedule in advance. The crypt tour takes you to the Gallo-Roman well and early medieval chapels below the apse. The north and south porches have sculptural programs nearly as rich as the Royal Portal on the west facade.
Pilgrim Notes
Chartres is about an hour by train from Paris Montparnasse. The annual pilgrimage from Paris to Chartres over Pentecost weekend draws thousands of walkers covering the 60-mile route on foot over three days. Mass is celebrated daily in the cathedral. The town is small and the cathedral dominates it; you can walk the full exterior in twenty minutes and see the flying buttresses up close. A recent restoration cleaned centuries of grime from the interior stone, revealing the original pale limestone — controversial among those who loved the darker atmosphere, but undeniably dramatic.