Notre-Dame de Chartres, Catholic cathedral in Chartres, France
Notre-Dame de Chartres is a Gothic cathedral in Chartres, about 80 km southwest of Paris, built mostly between 1194 and 1220 above Romanesque crypts. Its west facade has three pointed portals, a rose window and a band of arcading, flanked by a 105-metre plain pyramid spire and a 113-metre Flamboyant spire added in 1507–1513. Inside, the nave rises to ribbed vaults above clustered columns, ending in an apse lit by tall lancet windows.
The present cathedral was rebuilt after a fire on the night of 10 June 1194 destroyed most of the previous Romanesque building; only the crypt, the two towers and the west facade survived and were kept. Work proceeded largely between 1194 and 1220, and the north spire was added in Flamboyant style between 1507 and 1513. The earlier cathedral of Bishop Fulbert had been consecrated on 17 October 1037.
The cathedral keeps most of its original 12th- and 13th-century stained glass, and its relic, the Sancta Camisa, is venerated as the tunic worn by the Virgin Mary at Christ's birth. A Black Madonna in the church was crowned by Pope Pius IX on 31 May 1855. The 14th-century legend of a druid shrine to a "Virgin about to give birth" is still tied to the Notre-Dame de Sous-Terre chapel in the crypt.
The west facade faces the Place de la Cathédrale, and the labyrinth in the nave floor is normally cleared of chairs for walking. The crypt, among the largest in France, holds the Saint Lubin chapel and the 33.5-metre Saints Forts well, rediscovered in 1900–1901 by René Merlet. The north tower's 113-metre Flamboyant spire, added 1507–1513, is reached by a narrow stair.
The nave floor displays a medieval labyrinth measuring 261 meters in length, traditionally walked by pilgrims on their knees. The relic of the Virgin Mary's tunic is kept in the treasury and has drawn believers for centuries.
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