Chartres Cathedral

Overview

Chartres Cathedral is a Gothic cathedral in the town of Chartres in northern France, about 90 kilometers southwest of Paris. It houses the Veil of the Virgin, a silk cloth that Catholic tradition holds was worn by Mary, the mother of Jesus. The cathedral is the seat of the Catholic Diocese of Chartres, an active place of worship, and a destination of pilgrimage devoted to Mary. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Present

Chartres Cathedral is an active Catholic cathedral and the seat of the Diocese of Chartres. The building is owned by the French state, which is responsible for its upkeep, while the diocese uses it for worship. Masses are celebrated daily, and the Veil of the Virgin is displayed in a side chapel. Walking pilgrimages from Paris to Chartres take place each year, the largest at Pentecost, the Christian feast fifty days after Easter, drawing thousands of participants. A restoration of the interior, which returned the walls and vaults to their original light-colored painted finish, was largely completed in the late 2010s.

Religious Significance

Catholic devotion at Chartres Cathedral centers on Mary, the mother of Jesus, to whom the cathedral is dedicated. Its principal relic is the Veil of the Virgin, a length of silk that Catholic tradition holds was worn by Mary; accounts within the tradition differ on the occasion, naming either the Annunciation (when, in Christian belief, the angel Gabriel told Mary she would bear Jesus) or the birth of Jesus. The relic was given to the church in 876 by Charles the Bald, a grandson of the emperor Charlemagne, and it made Chartres a major destination of Marian pilgrimage in medieval Europe. Pilgrims come to venerate the veil and to pray to Mary.

A circular labyrinth about 13 meters wide is set into the floor of the nave, the central hall of the cathedral. Walking its single winding path to the center is practiced as a form of prayer.

History & Structure

Chartres Cathedral is located on a site where a series of earlier cathedrals were built from the 4th century onward, each destroyed by fire or war. In 1194 a fire destroyed most of the cathedral then standing; the west front, its two towers, and the crypt survived, as did the Veil of the Virgin. The present Gothic cathedral was rebuilt largely between 1194 and 1220 and consecrated in 1260. Its two spires differ visibly: the south spire, from around 1160, is a plain stone pyramid, while the elaborately carved north spire, completed in 1513, rises 113 meters. The cathedral preserves about 150 of its original 176 stained glass windows, most made in the 12th and 13th centuries. Chartres Cathedral was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979.

Additional Resources

• Official website: Cathédrale de Chartres
• Related: Cathedral of Notre Dame de Chartres (Smarthistory)
• UNESCO: Chartres Cathedral
• Book: Universe of Stone: A Biography of Chartres Cathedral by Philip Ball (2008)