Hotel Chatelet

The train trip from Paris to Chartres was just over an hour long. I enjoyed the glimpses of the French countryside: deciduous trees, golden fields, round hay bales. Chartres station is just 10 minutes? walk from the cathedral.

We had timed it deliberately to be able to take Malcolm Miller?s 12:00 tour (he being the reigning expert on Chartres cathedral), but he wasn?t there that day. Instead, we rented audio tours in English for 4E that were probably just as good for our purposes, because you can start and stop the tape at will.

It was a Friday, so the labyrinth ? marked on the floor in mosaics ? was open. There were barefoot pilgrims walking slowly around it, stopping every few steps to pray. From what I?ve read, a maze has many different exits, but a labyrinth has only one way out, so it came to symbolize the way to heaven.

Chartres Cathedral is an awe-inspiring church. So much work and artistry went into it ? masonry, stained glass, sculpture. The carved stone choir screen depicting scenes from Mary?s and Jesus? lives took 200 years to finish. I loved the baby laughing in Mary?s arms and reaching for the Magi. Mary was smiling, too.

I had always felt that medieval cathedrals were a misuse of money ? pomp and circumstance when people were starving. But I learned from this visit that cathedrals were more than places of worship ? they were also places of education for the common folk. At a time when most were illiterate, cathedrals, through stained glass and sculpture, told stories from the Bible and from history.

And the people themselves contributed proudly to the artworks. Guilds such as carpenters, drapers, farriers, and coopers kicked in money for stained glass windows, and their contributions were acknowledged in the windows, with pictures of them at work. It was interesting that in the farrier picture, the horse was immobilized in a wooden frame while it was being shod.

Further on cathedrals ? I?ve also come to believe that the arts are necessary to keep the human spirit uplifted.