Chartres
April 19, 2004


Monday morning we took the train again, this time to visit Chartres. Its early Gothic cathedral is arguably the most beautiful in the world, and certainly one of the most famous. The distintively asymetrical towers were built in different centuries, the taller, Flamboyant north one a later addition after the collapse of a previous wooden steeple. The interior of the church is very dark, kept that way to enhance the brilliance of the stained glass which, despite the Vatican, the Ufizzi, and the Louvre, still struck me as the most beautiful art I had seen on the trip. Seeing the glass in its original home was especially wonderful, and there is simply so much of it that it is hard to take it all in, much less spend the time to identify all the stories told within the panels. The carvings in the portals are also good examples of medieval art at its apex.


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