Norte-Dame de Chartres

Once we left the river cruise, we traveled by train to Livarot France – where our son has a ‘gite’ (holiday home) and is developing a B&B operation.  (https://www.ledouetfleury.fr/en) Beth, our friend from Sonoma, joined us for several days.  She had never been to this part of France before and was anxious to see where our son and his husband, Christopher, lived.  Livarot is about 3 hours northwest of Paris.

Livarot-Pays-d’Auge, as it is officially known, is a commune in the department of Calvados and became the central municipality of the 22 former communes in January 2016.  With a population of just over 6,200 it is known for cheese – a major cheese plant is in the town producing the three main cheeses of Normandy – Livarot Cheese, Normandy Camembert and Pont-l’Eveque.  A free tour of the factory is available most days and Beth along with Christopher took the tour (I went a week or so later after Beth had left).  Livarot also has a large apple processing plant turning apples into juice and apple sauce.

After settling in for the evening, we gathered our resources and planned our next trip – to Norte-Dame de Chartres.  

The construction Chartres Cathedral started about 20 years after the more famous Cathedral in Paris (one of the other Norte-Dame Cathedrals).  Chartres is one of the best-known and most influential examples of High Gothic and Classic Gothic architecture,

It stands on a Romanesque basements, while its north spire is more recent (1507–1513) and is built in the more ornate flamboyant style.  Long renowned as “one of the most beautiful and historically significant cathedrals in all of Europe,” it was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979, which called it “the high point of French Gothic art” and a “masterpiece”.

The Cathedral is well-preserved and well-restored: the majority of the original stained-glass windows survive intact, while the architecture has seen only minor changes since the early 13th century. The cobalt blue of the windows makes Chartres unique. The building’s exterior is dominated by heavy flying buttresses which allowed the architects to increase the window size significantly, while the west end is dominated by two contrasting spires – a 349 ft plain pyramid completed around 1160 and a 377 ft early 16th-century Flamboyant spire on top of an older tower. Equally notable are the three great façades, each adorned with hundreds of sculpted figures illustrating key theological themes and narratives.

One of the more interesting aspects of the Cathedral, which makes it stand out from others, is that it has a medieval labyrinth dating from the early 13^th century on the floor.  The labyrinth is a stone inlay with only one path whereas a maze has a choice of paths.  

This labyrinth has 11 concentric circles and rounded sides with twists and turns to lead to the center and then back out and symbolizes the journey of Christ’s salvation. 

The entire area around the Cathedral is under construction making the area a pedestrian area only with paving stones replacing the roadway.  Unlike the other cathedrals we have visited during this adventure, there was NOT a Christmas Market happening which was nice.  

There is extensive restoration happening both on the  exterior and interior of the building so there was scaffolding making it more difficult to see some of the features of the building.  Once inside, we picked up the audio guide and began our tour – it was one of the best audio tours I think we have had!  It described the Cathedral in detail and highlighted various areas.  

After completing our tour, we went across the ‘square’ and had a lovely lunch prior to heading back to Livarot.