Chartres

Today was the big day: Chartres cathedral! Despite the rather miserable weather (cold and rainy) the church was very impressive! We took a tour bus from the hotel and, still twenty minutes away from Chartres itself, our professor alerted us to the fact that you can see the spires of the cathedral from the highway. When approaching the main facade of the church, it was really obvious how much more huge Chartres is than either St. Denis or Notre Dame. Unfortunately, there was construction being done on the front (West) facade, but the North and South portals were visible, and one was just recently cleaned. The choir of the church had also just finished being cleaned and looked astonishingly different than the rest of the church! If I hadn't known it was Chartres, it would have been easy to say that the stone belonged to a modern-built church. The stained-glass windows were also dramatically brighter when cleaned. They made the other windows look downright dim.

After our lecture at the cathedral and a formal lunch with the entire group, we had a demonstration with some professional (didn't catch the title) at the International Center for Stained Glass. Beyond just the temporary exhibit they happened to have up this month, we were shown exactly how they make stained glass today and how it was made in the Middle Ages, when the windows of the church were created. Both the history and the production seemed really cool! I think all of us exited saying to one another that we want to go home and make stained glass. During the tour I was even picking up some of the French that our tour guide was speaking. Who knows, in four more weeks, I might not even need a translator! :)

Goodnight all! Another early morning tomorrow for the Royal Tapestries Museum!
















Here are photos of the cleaned and uncleaned sections of the church, and the stained-glass demonstration work table.