Wednesday, May 27: Chartres
Chartres day. I got up uncharacteristically early, got cleaned up and was ready to leave at 8:45a but decided to wait around til the grocery store opened to eat a yogurt/fruit breakfast instead of pastries. I hopped on the metro system during rush hour – my first encounter so far in France – and didn’t even come close to making the 9:34 train I meant to catch. I was still in line at 9:45 trying to buy the ticket to Chartres, behind a very confused and angry American who thought his ticket was fully exchangeable, yada yada… But I did eventually get a ticket and a seat on the 10:34 train.
I arrived just in time to power walk up the hill to the striking Notre Dame Cathedral of Chartres in time for the noon o’ clock tour. Malcolm Miller has just (in April) celebrated his 50th year anniversary of giving English tours of Chartres’ Notre Dame Cathedral and is a decided expert on its stories, commentaries, symbolism and quirks. The hour and a half tour was very interesting: the history, the contributors, etc. He explained that whereas most churches’ stained glass tells the stories of the Bible in sequence, Chartres provides commentary on those stories, teaching its many students throughout the years using the colorful canvas of glass to make comparisons and draw out deeper lessons.
The windows are truly magnificent. In The Book of Love, which I just finished reading, the blue color of the windows is mentioned as unrivaled and inexplicably brilliant and that’s a pretty darn good description. Malcolm called it Cobalt blue, which would explain the color well, but not necessarily the effect. In particular, the window of Notre Dame de la Belle Verriere, of the Virgin in the famous Cobalt blue, is well deserving of its status as one of the 3 most photographed items in the cathedral. The other two are the holy relic for which the cathedral was built and rebuilt (many times: this is version 5.0), billed as the veil of the Virgin Mary from the miracle of the nativity, and the enormous rose window to the North, that was only added in one of the later incarnations of the church. (pics upon pics of this on Flickr)
What captured me the most, however, was the labyrinth. Pre-dating Christianity in its design and even in its execution here, it’s now covered 6 days a week with moveable rows of wooden chairs to allow for more people to seat themselves. In the book, Maureen (the main character) feels personally hurt to see this most ancient and precious “art” covered and walked on and destroyed. For me, it almost helped define the labyrinth. As though no cover could strip the pattern: it’s more than paint on the floor (it’s actually built into the stone pattern on the floor) and even if you couldn’t make out the colors or bricks anymore, the labyrinth would still exist in this spot. The church has been built and rebuilt on this exact spot because even before the life of Christ, it was long deemed holy ground. If the church itself weren’t so magnificent and grandiose, visitors would still come here to worship the space. In fact, the relic, the veil, has made it clear this is where it will stay. Even after a fire that ravaged most of the back half of the cathedral, monks retrieved the veil (pic), completely preserved from the ashes that remained at the site. The 3rd church and 4th church were rebuilt in this spot after gruesome fires because of this.
The labyrinth (pics) spreads across the entire nave from side to side and has been adopted by Christianity with Christian meaning injected. I actually felt strongly connected the idea presented in the Book of Love that in walking the Labyrinth – starting from one point at the edge and winding through the 11 concentric circles – to the center, you are dedicating both the attention of your body and your mind to the “puzzle.” Upon arriving in the center, you see the 6 petaled rose (multiple symbolic meanings here). In the book, Maureen learns to walk out the Lord’s Prayer (Pater Noster), using the 6 petals to pay tribute to the six facets of the prayer: faith, surrender, service, abundance, forgiveness, and strength. When Napoleon said “Chartres is no place for an Atheist,” he knew what he was talkin about. No matter your beliefs, this place will inspire you in one of its hundreds of alluring ways.
I didn’t go up into the tower, feeling like the real show was the church, so what would I look at in the town from the heights? I decided to give a donation instead to the work being done on the cathedral. They’re systematically cleaning every surface of the church (pics) with amazing results. I got a few good shots of the difference between a cleaned spot and a not-cleaned spot. The difference between windows that have been restored and those that are still dingy is probably obvious in China.
I’m now back at the hotel to blog, but thinking I may go to the Louvre tonight. They stay open til 9:45p on Wednesdays and I’m guessing there will be a lot less of a crowd during the normal dinner hour (which is 8p here). Trying to soak up as much Paris as I can before heading back!
Pics of Chartres' cathedrale (lots of windows pics) on Flickr...
I arrived just in time to power walk up the hill to the striking Notre Dame Cathedral of Chartres in time for the noon o’ clock tour. Malcolm Miller has just (in April) celebrated his 50th year anniversary of giving English tours of Chartres’ Notre Dame Cathedral and is a decided expert on its stories, commentaries, symbolism and quirks. The hour and a half tour was very interesting: the history, the contributors, etc. He explained that whereas most churches’ stained glass tells the stories of the Bible in sequence, Chartres provides commentary on those stories, teaching its many students throughout the years using the colorful canvas of glass to make comparisons and draw out deeper lessons.
The windows are truly magnificent. In The Book of Love, which I just finished reading, the blue color of the windows is mentioned as unrivaled and inexplicably brilliant and that’s a pretty darn good description. Malcolm called it Cobalt blue, which would explain the color well, but not necessarily the effect. In particular, the window of Notre Dame de la Belle Verriere, of the Virgin in the famous Cobalt blue, is well deserving of its status as one of the 3 most photographed items in the cathedral. The other two are the holy relic for which the cathedral was built and rebuilt (many times: this is version 5.0), billed as the veil of the Virgin Mary from the miracle of the nativity, and the enormous rose window to the North, that was only added in one of the later incarnations of the church. (pics upon pics of this on Flickr)
What captured me the most, however, was the labyrinth. Pre-dating Christianity in its design and even in its execution here, it’s now covered 6 days a week with moveable rows of wooden chairs to allow for more people to seat themselves. In the book, Maureen (the main character) feels personally hurt to see this most ancient and precious “art” covered and walked on and destroyed. For me, it almost helped define the labyrinth. As though no cover could strip the pattern: it’s more than paint on the floor (it’s actually built into the stone pattern on the floor) and even if you couldn’t make out the colors or bricks anymore, the labyrinth would still exist in this spot. The church has been built and rebuilt on this exact spot because even before the life of Christ, it was long deemed holy ground. If the church itself weren’t so magnificent and grandiose, visitors would still come here to worship the space. In fact, the relic, the veil, has made it clear this is where it will stay. Even after a fire that ravaged most of the back half of the cathedral, monks retrieved the veil (pic), completely preserved from the ashes that remained at the site. The 3rd church and 4th church were rebuilt in this spot after gruesome fires because of this.
The labyrinth (pics) spreads across the entire nave from side to side and has been adopted by Christianity with Christian meaning injected. I actually felt strongly connected the idea presented in the Book of Love that in walking the Labyrinth – starting from one point at the edge and winding through the 11 concentric circles – to the center, you are dedicating both the attention of your body and your mind to the “puzzle.” Upon arriving in the center, you see the 6 petaled rose (multiple symbolic meanings here). In the book, Maureen learns to walk out the Lord’s Prayer (Pater Noster), using the 6 petals to pay tribute to the six facets of the prayer: faith, surrender, service, abundance, forgiveness, and strength. When Napoleon said “Chartres is no place for an Atheist,” he knew what he was talkin about. No matter your beliefs, this place will inspire you in one of its hundreds of alluring ways.
I didn’t go up into the tower, feeling like the real show was the church, so what would I look at in the town from the heights? I decided to give a donation instead to the work being done on the cathedral. They’re systematically cleaning every surface of the church (pics) with amazing results. I got a few good shots of the difference between a cleaned spot and a not-cleaned spot. The difference between windows that have been restored and those that are still dingy is probably obvious in China.
I’m now back at the hotel to blog, but thinking I may go to the Louvre tonight. They stay open til 9:45p on Wednesdays and I’m guessing there will be a lot less of a crowd during the normal dinner hour (which is 8p here). Trying to soak up as much Paris as I can before heading back!
Pics of Chartres' cathedrale (lots of windows pics) on Flickr...
posted by Jess at 10:40 AM
1 Comments:
Love you, Jessi Lou. Wish I was there for the Chartres tour. Your little room looks like it is related to our room in Milano :O Thinking of you lots today.
Post a Comment
<< Home