Chartres cathedral is already unique in several ways.
Chartres cathedral stained glass windows facts.
It is said to constitute one of the most complete collections of medieval stained glass in the world.
Like the sculpture the stained glass was intended to be educational.
The five windows of the choir hemicycle a semicircular arrangement relate in various ways to the virgin mary.
New developments in architecture meant bigger windows and boy did they capitalise on that.
Restorations have been carried out continuously since the 14th century with important campaigns in the 19th and 20th centuries including that undertaken by nicolas coffetier with the assistance of louis charles auguste steinheil.
Dating from the early 13th century chartres cathedral s glass largely escaped harm during the religious wars of the 16th century.
Unlike most other cathedrals it has never been extensively rebuilt and has retained 80 per cent of its original stained glass.
Chartres cathedral was rebuilt in 1194 after a near devastating fire and the stained glass created from between c 1200 1240.
Chartres cathedral contains 176 stained glass windows the feature for which it may be best known.
It was completed in just 30 years.
With the exception of the romanesque lancets of the west façade and the window of notre dame de la belle verrière reset in the south choir most of the glazing of the 176 windows was accomplished between around 1200 and 1235.
Chartres cathedral stained glass.
The cathedral has three large rose windows.
00 the lives of the apostles 01 the lives of st simon and st jude 02 the life of st andrew 04 the life of st paul.
The windows are in an excellent state of conservation and currently undergoing an active restoration phase to return them to their original splendour.
Chartres cathedral the medieval stained glass.
They cover 2600 square metres in total and consist of 172 bays illustrating biblical scenes the lives of the saints and scenes from the life of trade guilds of the period.
The 167 stained glass windows of chartres cathedral built 1190 1220 ce are the most complete group surviving anywhere from the middle ages.
Chartres windows are unique in the sense that a stained glass window became the object of devotion something that is normally reserved for statues or other objects not windows architectural design mosaics before on floor when depicting christ moved to walls and ceiling so not stepping on christ architectural design.
To view details of individual windows click one of the enabled bay numbers in the diagram below or one the captions below right.
The stained glass windows of chartres cathedral are held to be one of the best preserved and most complete set of medieval stained glass notably celebrated for their colours especially their cobalt blue.