Notre-Dame de Chartres

About

Notre-Dame de Chartres Cathedral is a Catholic building located in the heart of the city of Chartres in the French department of Eure-et-Loir, in the Centre-Val de Loire region. A monument to Gothic architecture, it is traditionally considered one of the cathedrals of this style best preserved by its sculptures, stained glass and slabs. It was built at the beginning of the 13th century, mostly in thirty years, on the ruins of a previous Romanesque cathedral, itself destroyed during a fire in 1194.

Later additions were made, such as the chapel of Vendôme or the northern arrow dating from the 16th century. Abiding by a relic that tradition identifies as the veil of the Virgin, it is a great Marian pilgrimage place that dominates the city of Chartres and the plain of the Beauce and reveals itself to the gaze almost thirty kilometers away. She inspired writers Joris-Karl Huysmans and Charles Péguy.

The building was classified as historical monuments by its census on the list of protected historical monuments in 1862. It is also one of the first French monuments listed on the...