Chartres Cathedral

Built in 1194, after a fire that destroyed the old cathedral, the Chartes Cathedral marks the highest point of the French Gothic art. This UNESCO World Heritage site is in remarkable conditions—known for the astonishing color of the beautiful stained-glass windows, called blue of Chartres.

About this building

The cathedral of Chartres preserves a relic of the Virgin Mary. It has therefore been a place of pilgrimage since Carolingian times. In 1194 a fire destroyed the Romanesque cathedral, the only elements spared were the lower part of the facade and the crypt. The beginning of the reconstruction was immediate because it began in 1195. The crypt and facade are kept in place and therefore remain intact. The cathedral keeps the same dimensions. The reconstruction is rapid due to significant funding. In 1836, a fire destroyed the structure, which was replaced by an iron and copper structure.

Other nearby buildings

Wikimedia Commons/Poulpy

Église Saint-Aignan

The church of Saint-Aignan owes its name to the bishop of Orléans around 400, when a pre-Romanesque church already stood there, later replaced by other buildings which were burnt down in the 11th century and again in 1262. The crypt, well lit by windows overlooking the Rue Saint-Pierre below, dates from the end of the 15th century, but the present building dates from the early 16th century. The turret on the left dates from the 16th and 17th centuries. The church of Saint-Aignan was the parish of the counts of Blois and Chartres.

Wikimedia Commons/Le Passant

Chapelle Notre-Dame de la Brèche

The chapel of Notre-Dame de la Brèche (Our lady of the breach) was built in 1599, after the Protestants in 1568, during the second war of religion: a breach having been opened in the city walls by the artillery of Louis de Bourbon-Condé, the Chartrains, under the protection of a statue of Notre-Dame de la Porte Drouaise, built and defended a barricade which prevented the capture of the city. The chapel was rebuilt in 1843 to serve the parish of the lower town, the neighbouring Saint-André church having been disused during the Revolution.

Sauvegarde de l'Art Français
Unusual small church brnging together both Romanesque and Renaissance styles

Church of Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul

The church of St Pierre and St Paul de Chauffours appears unusual, with its two contiguous roofs, its porch and its small spire that overhangs the roof. This atypical church, which brings together several architectural styles ranging from Romanesque to Renaissance style, was under the dependence of the chapter of Notre-Dame de Chartres.