During a cold, damp week in late January, I joined Pat on his regular business trip to France. While he met with the Coty Directors for their bi-monthly meetings at the Chartres plant, I took advantage of my being there to check out the very pretty town and the famous 13th century Cathedral. An incredibly imposing structure, with two very different spires (one Gothic, the other Romanesque) it looms over everything in the town and can be seen from almost every angle. We arrived early Monday morning from Paris and checked into our hotel, Le Grand Monarque, on a square close to the centre of town. I first went to visit the Cathedral and learned there would be a guided tour at noon given by an English guide, provided there were at least 12 visitors. Being a Monday and given the sombre weather, there were only three of us, so no tour! A little ridiculous since the guide came all the way over to the Cathedral just to tell us that, however he suggested we rent the audioguides because all the information contained therein was written and read by him! I nearly froze to death following his commentary in and out of all the portals, however I felt I may never be in Chartres again, so might as well make the best of it! The cathedral is known as one of the crowning architectural achievements of Western civilization. It was built in the Gothic style during the first quarter of the 13th century to replace a Romanesque cathedral that had been destroyed by fire, along with much of the town, on June 10, 1194. The new construction took only thirty years to complete, apparently due to some effective fund-raising and donated labour. While on my tour, I couldn't help but recall Ken Follett's fabulous books about building the cathedral in England (Pillars of the Earth and World without End)...the former is to be released this summer as an eight-hour TV series, with (among others) Canadian actors Donald Sutherland and Gordon Pinsent. Check out his official website: http://www.ken-follett.com/news/index.html
The Cathedral- due to the two different spires, it has a rather lop-sided look to it!
Inside the great Church-the altar and nave.
The famous blue stained-glass windows of Chartres-172 in all, donated by the various guilds in the town at the time, most of them dating back to the 13th century and which survived the fire of 1194. The gray skies outside meant that the true "Chartres blue" inside was not as intense as it should have been. We'll just have to return on a sunny day!
I found it interesting, that a month after Christmas and three weeks after Epiphany, the creche was still on display at the back of the Church.
View of the Cathedral from outside in the back garden.
Below are various views of my walks around the town with its medieval feel in the "Old City" and along the River Eure.
On my second day, I visited the renovated Maison du Saumon which now serves as a town museum. There was a wonderful collection of photos of Old Chartres vs scenes of today. Near the Cathedral, there is an interesting stained glass centre with various exhibitions of glass and where one can take lessons in the art of stained glass and where pictures of all the Cathedral's windows are explained in great detail.
Great food in Chartres: fresh croissants, chausson de pommes, Paleron de boeuf (a sort of pot roast with veggies), mousse au chocolat and espresso coffee served with a biscuit and a truffle!
It was a short and very cold but lovely side trip from Paris, about one hour away by train to Gare Montparnasse.
No comments:
Post a Comment