My Parisian Summer: Day Trip to Chartres: The Greatest Of All French Cathedrals

On Tuesday, our group took a day trip out of Paris, through the wheat fields that supply baguettes to the country, to Chartres. The Chartres Cathedral, was built on the site where a few earlier cathedrals had been burned. This one was made of stone, and the main structure was completed in 1220. Situated on what I think was the only hill in the area, it seems to rise out of the fields as we drive toward the city of 40,000 people.

We were so fortunate to have as our guide, the world-renown expert on the Cathedral, Malcolm Miller. A surly, octogenarian Englishman, Mr. Miller has written many books on the cathedral, and has been studying it and guiding tours since 1958! He explained that the cathedral was a book, read not by words, but in its windows, statues and carvings.

It was fascinating to have him "read" the biblical stories to us from one window like this. You begin at the bottom, working from left-to-right. When these windows (mostly original, dating from the 1300s) were created, Europe didn't have paper, and the public could not read. The stories were written in the windows and could be read over and over by whomever visited the cathedral. There are 176 windows in all.

A few of the things we learned during Mr. Miller's lecture include:

Crypt means hidden, not buried. People can be buried in a crypt, but not necessarily.

Flamboyant means flame-like (makes sense!). The gothic spires are flamboyant, reaching toward heaven.

The number 40 is everywhere! The Great Flood was 40 days/nights, lent, ascension, purifying, quarrantine, the number of cleansing, and life begins at 40. . . it goes on!

Symbols of the Zodiac are quite common in churches -- it is a calendar.

Honestly, he was a fascinating old guy. I hope to hear him speak again someday. He said he would be there in Chartres until Judgement Day, so who knows. :)