Stained glass
Stained glass windows of Chartres Cathedral
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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. 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.[1][2]
Some windows survive from an earlier Chartres Cathedral, such as the three lancets on the west front (1145-1155, contemporary with those made for Abbot Suger at the Basilica of Saint-Denis) and the lancet south of the choir known as 'Notre-Dame de la Belle Verrière', famed for its Chartres blue (1180). However, most of the windows were probably made between 1205 and 1240 for the present church, taking in the Fourth Crusade (bringing a large number of important relics to Chartres[3]) and the Albigensian Crusade as well as the reigns of Philip II Augustus (1180-1223) and Louis VIII (1223-1226), with the building's consecration finally occurring in 1260 under Louis IX (1226-1270).
Some of the windows were made later, such as those in the Vendôme Chapel (1400-1425) and some in the transepts (20th century), whilst some damaged 13th-century windows were restored from the 15th century onwards. The destruction of Reims Cathedral and its stained glass in 1914 caused shock across France and led to all Chartres' windows being taken out and stored throughout both world wars. Conservation and removal of pollution has been ongoing since 1972. Preliminary studies were carried out by the Laboratoire de recherche des monuments historiques.[4]
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