The Big Place With the Gothic Window Art in France

Flying buttresses at Chartres.
These Gothic supports absorbed
the downward and outward thrust
of the vault, assuasive the walls to
rise higher and comprise more
stained glass.

West Portal at Chartres, covered
in narrative relief sculpture.

Terminology
For a guide, see:
Architecture Glossary.

Summary

Chartres Cathedral, perhaps even more and so than Notre-Matriarch Cathedral in Paris (1163-1345), is generally considered to be the greatest and best preserved example of Gothic compages in France. Located roughly 80 kilometres southwest of Paris, the Basilican cathedral was largely built between 1194 and 1250, and was the fifth cathedral to stand on the site - a site revered by both Romans and Druids - since the 4th century. The cathedral is world famous for its glorious stained glass art, and for its rich assortment of gothic sculpture, whose exact significant is nonetheless pondered by scholars. With a 34-metre high vault - 4 metres taller than the ceiling in Notre-Dame - and walls nigh entirely made of stained glass, Chartres Cathedral exemplifies the improvements offered by Gothic fine art over the previous style of Romanesque Architecture (c.800-1200). It continues to receive large numbers of Christian pilgrims - no doubt attracted past its famous relic, known every bit the "Sancta Camisa", the tunic worn by the Virgin Mary at Christ's nascency - as well equally tourists attracted by the cathedral'due south compages and stone sculpture, also as its three huge rose windows. In 1979, Chartres Cathedral was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List of culturally of import sites.

History

Architects began constructing the first Gothic cathedral at Chartres subsequently its Romanesque predecessor was destroyed by burn down in 1020. Unfortunately well-nigh of the new church, except for its crypt and western facade, was also gutted by fire in 1194, whereupon construction began on the present construction, which was largely completed in 1220.

In fact the present cathedral is in an first-class state of preservation. The bulk of its 32,292 foursquare feet of stained glass has survived, while the overall architecture has witnessed just small-scale changes since the early on 13th century, notably the 16th century addition of a flamboyant-style 113-metre spire.

Architecture of Chartres Cathedral

The cathedral represents the true prototype of the Gothic cathedral characterized past a longitudinal body with a nave and ii aisles and an elevation on three levels - arcade, triforium, clerestory - crossed past a brusque transept and ending in a deep presbytery with ambulatory and radiating chapels.

The cathedral is roughly 130 metres (430 ft) in length, and its nave is 16.v metres (55 ft) wide. Its cruciform design plan - typical of French Gothic Basilicas, and similar to those of Amiens and Reims - includes a two bay foyer (narthex) at the western end leading into a 7 bay nave up to the crossing with its iii-bay transepts. The heads of the transept end in a richly busy projecting atrium to a higher place which a serial of fine lancet windows connects to rose windows, creating an boggling luminous surface that opened the way for the afterwards transepts of St Denis and Paris.

The nave continues east and ends in a semicircular apse. The nave and transepts are flanked past single aisles, which broadens into a wide ambulatory around the choir and alcove.

The rectangular bays of the nave are covered by quadripartite ribbed cross vaults resting on alternating cylindrical and polygonal elements that may have been used, since they were no longer necessary, to avoid excessive monotony. The outcome is a continuous and serried rhythm that exalts the effect of verticality of the space emphasized by a plastic accentuation of the structural organisation: the revolutionary pilier cantonne, used here for the first time, confers a sensible cloth concreteness. The peachy windows, fabricated possible past the use of the exterior buttresses, propose an innovative pattern based on a pair of lancet windows and a round window inscribed in an arcade. Such are the enormous dimensions that the nave is conspicuously higher than the aisles, thus increasing in an exponential way the sense of grandeur and monumentality.

The burning down of the Romanesque structure and so the start Gothic structure, meant that the new cathedral was entirely Gothic, harmonious, balanced and all of a piece. As a result, the cathedral exemplifies the Gothic values of elevation and height, which were merely realized because Gothic architects managed to channel the weight of the ceilings and walls to specific points externally reinforced by heavy flying buttresses and supporting piers, thus minimizing the load on the walls. Consequently, non only could the ceiling be college (and more crawly) but also the walls could house much bigger (and more inspirational) stained glass windows. And more than glass meant less Romanesque-style gloom just lots more than Christian art for worshippers to enjoy. Amazingly 152 out of the original 176 stained glass windows, installed 1205-40, have survived: a unique occurrence for a medieval cathedral.

Note: The great High german Gothic structure of Cologne Cathedral has a window surface area of 10,000 foursquare metres - roughly three times larger than the area of glass at Chartres.

The west end of the cathedral is dominated by 2 different spires – a 105-metre (349 ft) regular pyramid-style structure built around 1160 and the 113-metre 16th-century flamboyant spire. Equally impressive are the three cracking facades, each with its own rose window and embellished with hundreds of architectural statues and areas of Biblical relief sculpture, illustrating important theological narratives. The interior of the cathedral also contains numerous items of sculpture, including wood carving: the choir enclosure, for instance, contains over 200 statues depicting over forty scenes.

For more about the Gothic style of building design, please see Rayonnant Gothic Architecture (c.1200-1350) and Flamboyant Gothic Architecture (1375-1500).

Flight Buttresses

The apply of buttresses (see figure, left) led to the abandonment of the graduated external profile in favour of an elevation on two levels, simple but majestic. The composition of the volumes is repeated in the sequence of the tall, massive buttresses that repeat on the exterior the rhythm of the internal bays. The weight of the vaults is passed to the buttresses by way of double arches and arcades of radial colonettes. The greater liberty made possible by the buttressing of the vaults thank you to rampant arches and the consequent abolitionism of tribunes permitted the master of Chartres to organize the interior spaces of the nave in a highly original way. He made a edifice that seems classical in the harmony of its proportions, as is clear in the top, where the arcade and the clerestory are given the aforementioned value. At the aforementioned time, the new liturgical demands for visual participation of the faithful in the commemoration of the Eucharist, every bit established in the final years of the 12th century, led to a new concept of the choir: the luminous space of the apse became the preferred setting for the liturgy and for polyphonic singing.

Westward Portal Sculpture

Gothic architects and sculptors sited virtually of the cathedral'southward narrative sculpture effectually its entrances and doorways, known as "portals", and Chartres is no exception. The three portals of the west facade contain a virtual encyclopedia of Biblical art: each doorway focusing on a different attribute of Christ'southward office. Effectually the doorway on the right, the sculpture depicts his earthly life, and includes scenes like the Declaration, Visitation, Nativity, and the Presentation in the Temple. On the left, we come across the Second Coming of Christ (some experts understand this to be the Ascension of Christ). The heart portal illustrates the End of Time as laid out in the Book of Revelation.

More Articles about Medieval and Gothic Fine art

• Medieval Artists (c.1100-1450) From Gislebertus onwards.

• Arnolfo di Cambio (1240–1310) Gothic architect of Florence Cathedral.

• German language Gothic Art (1200-1450).

• Gothic Sculpture in England (1150-1250) Wells, Westminster cathedrals.

• Gothic Illuminated Manuscripts (c.1150-1350).

• German Gothic Sculpture (c.1150-1400).

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Source: http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/architecture/chartres-cathedral.htm

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