Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

Today, Britt and I went by Metro to the Gard du Nord to catch a train to the city of Chartres, which is southwest of Paris and about 1 hour away by train. Chris decided not to come. Since I took Art History 101 (about 44 years ago), I have wanted to visit the cathedral here––the Chartres Notre–Dame Cathedral. We could see the cathedral as soon as we got off the train.

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

A closer up view of the cathedral. The building in front of it is the tourist office. Here, we were able to get a walking map of the town of Chartres.

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

Chartres–Upper Level

I knew that the cathedral was here, but was very surprised to find that Chartres was a well–preserved medieval town. It was very easy to believe that you had traveled back to another time. There are two levels of Chartres––the upper and lower levels. The cathedral is on the upper level. The following photos show some of the buildings which surround the cathedral on this level.

Chartres–Upper Level

Chartres–Upper Level

More buildings.

Chartres–Upper Level

Chartres–Upper Level

More buildings.

Chartres–Upper Level

Chartres–Upper Level

More buildings.

Chartres–Upper Level

Chartres–Upper Level

These sides of the buildings are at some strange angles.

Chartres–Upper Level

Chartres–Upper Level

More buildings.

Chartres–Upper Level

Chartres–Upper Level

Little shop.

Chartres–Upper Level

Chartres–Upper Level

More buildings.

Chartres–Upper Level

Chartres–Upper Level

Brasserie.

Chartres–Upper Level

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

Front view of the cathedral. When you see netting on a building as in the photo, it means that the building is being cleaned. Buildings in Paris and elsewhere are periodically cleaned and the buildings actually change color after being cleaned. A church could be almost dark brown in color the first time that you see and then almost white the next time that you see it. This church dates back to the 4th century, and although a fire destroyed the first cathedral built, there still are remanents here from the 4th, 6th, 8th, 9th, and 11th centuries. The new cathedral started being built in 1194 and was finished around 1230 and dedicated in 1260. It is considered to be the most complete and well–preserved example of a Gothic cathedral.

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

Closer–up view of the front of the cathedral.

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

Another view of the cathedral.

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

Another view of the cathedral.

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

Another view of the cathedral.

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

Another view of the cathedral.

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

Another view of the cathedral.

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

One of the doorways of the cathedral.

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

View of the cathedral from the garden of the Musee des Beaux–Arts, in the rear of the cathedral. Note the sculpture here––there are about 10 of these sculptures in the garden.

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

Garden Sculpture

Another of the garden sculptures.

Garden Sculpture

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

Inside of the cathedral. My photos of the inside of the cathedral did not come out very well. If you would like to see some better photos, you may want to visit one of the Internet sites dealing with the Chartres Cathedral. This photo shows the arches inside the cathedral. Note the stained glass windows at the top.

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

Some of the church’s stained glass windows.

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

Sculpture inside the cathedral.

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

More the stained–glass windows.

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

One of the bas reliefs.

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

Chartres–Upper Town

Time for lunch. We were going to eat inside this cafe––inside because the wind had really picked up here, but the stench of second–hand smoke insde the cafe was even too much for our Paris desensitized noses. (Warning––nonsmokers are still second–class citizens in Europe, not the smokers as they are now in California and other places. If you do go to Europe, you are just going to have to put up with quite a bit of second–hand smoke. I gave up smoking about 1 1/2 years ago and I am surprised that I didn’t start up again on this trip, but I didn’t. However, I kept feeling that I should be smoking. All the second–hand smoke kept triggering something.) Anyway, we decided that we would eat at a table right next to the plastic shield so it would protect us from the wind. Our table faced one of the sides of the cathedral. My ham and cheese sandwich was good. Britt didn’t care for her sandwich––something with melted cheese. After eating, we visited some souvenir shops next door.

Chartres–Upper Town

Chartres–View from the Top

After eating, it was time to start exploring the lower town. This photo is a view of the lower town from the back of the cathedral.

Chartres–View from the Top

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

View of the cathedral from below.

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

Old Wall

View of the wall behind the cathedral. There is mention in my brochure of a Gallo–Roman wall dating back to the 4th century, but I don’t know if this is part of that wall. The wall serves as a retaining wall.

Old Wall

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

View of the cathedral from the lower town and houses on the River Eure.

Chartres Notre-Dame Cathedral

Chartres–Lower Town

View of houses on the River Eure.

Chartres–Lower Town

Chartres–Lower Town

Another view of houses on the River Eure.

Chartres–Lower Town

Street sign–Lower Town

This street sign made us think that the city of Chartres must have a very intersting history.

Street sign–Lower Town

Street Scene–Lower Town

There were steep, winding streets going from the upper town to the lower town. It was hard to believe that people are still living in these buidings as you do really feel you have gone far back in time while you are walking these streets.

Street Scene–Lower Town

Street Scene–Lower Town

More lower town houses.

Street Scene–Lower Town

Street Scene–Lower Town

More lower town houses.

Street Scene–Lower Town

Lower Town

Saint–Pierre. This is a former abbey church of the 11th–13th century and is one of the finest Gothic masterpieces.

Lower Town

Lower Town

Cute cafe.

Lower Town

Lower Town

Britt walking up from the lower town to the upper town. There is a trolley that you can take from in front of the cathedral in the upper town that will take you on a tour of Chartres––you don’t have to walk it all, but we did. Before we got back on the train, we had coffee and pastries at a cafe. We needed to use the bathroom. Many of the bathroom facilities in Europe have a single door to a single room that then has an enclosed male toilet on one side of the room and an enclosed female toilet on the other side of the room. The sink is shared by both sexes. But this bathroom had something a bit different––on the right side of the sink was an urinal, which means that a female could leave the female stall and have to walk right past a man using the urinal. If there was a man there, I would have been totally mortified––luckily I was leaving the bathroom when a man was just walking into it. We took the train back to Paris and Chris, Britt, and I had dinner out.

Lower Town