Chartres: medieval light and architecture

Chartres Cathedral combines medieval architecture, sculpture and stained glass. UNESCO describes construction beginning partly in 1145 and rebuilding over 26 years after the fire of 1194. Its windows include work from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The cathedral entered the World Heritage List in 1979.

A useful reading begins with the relationship between the building and its decoration. The earlier western elements and later nave should not be compressed into one founding date. Glass and stone belong in the same account: both help explain why this is an architectural ensemble rather than a collection of isolated objects.