The program begins by detailing the history of Chartres. The cathedral was originally built in 1145 as a palace for the Virgin Mary in the town of Chartres, France. The motivation behind building such a large cathedral was likely caused by the trend throughout France at the time of constructing palaces in Mary's honor. All of the townspeople, rich and poor alike, worked together on the building. On June 10, 1194, the church burned down along with the town of Chartres. The citizens were dismayed, particularly because they feared that the holy relic housed in the cathedral (a piece of Mary's veil when she delivered Jesus) was destroyed. Like a miracle, several days later, priests walked out of the cathedral carrying the veil fully intact. The people of Chartres took this as a sign that Mary wished them to build a bigger and even more stunning cathedral.
Chartres Cathedral was meant to be a place where people could experience the divine through the magnificent architecture and the powerful, awesome visuals; a sort of heaven on Earth. This was accomplished through many features of the extraordinary cathedral, such as the stained glass windows and intricate sculptures along the building. In this program, Chartres was compared to a book; the windows and the walls, with depictions of Jesus, saints, and holy images tell a story of both human life and the greater universe. In fact, Chartres is considered to be a representation of the universe and a microcosm of the heavens.
Much about the ingenious building and designing of Chartres remains a mystery. It is known that the entire town participated in construction, however the names of the few who designed and lead the construction of the cathedral remain unknown. This was common during the Medieval times from art to architecture. The artist created the piece, and was not considered to be involved with the final product. The focus was on the art, not the artist. In the case of Chartres, the engineers, architects, and artists designed the masterpiece for the Virgin Mary, the rest of the town participated in its erection, and everybody involved remained anonymous.
What is quite remarkable about Chartres Cathedral is that it is believed that the early architects who designed it used only compasses and the proportions of the human body to build it. Yet they managed to erect an enormous and stable structure to last for almost a thousand years. Engineers even today would agree that Chartres Cathedral is an impressive engineering feat.
The design of the Cathedral contains many special relationships. For instance, the amount of space between the key, vertical points on the ideal human body are a geometric progression with a common ratio of one-half. For example, the distance from the genitals to the heart of the human form is one half the distance from the base of the feet to the genitals. Likewise, the distance from the mouth to the eye of the human body is one half the distance from the heart to the mouth. This same progression is identified when studying drawings of the positioning of certain features on interior of the cathedral. Another example is the moon and sun spires on the church, which are each aligned with focal points inside the church. Also, the size of the moon spire correlates to the number of days in a lunar cycle, or a month, and the size of the sun spire correlates to the number of days in a year. There is another interesting feature about Chartres that is not noticeable from the ground. From an aerial perspective of the cathedral, part of the roof forms a large green cross surrounded by flying buttresses. The program pointed out that the flying buttresses look almost like fingers holding up the cross and offering it to heaven. It is these sorts of subtle but recognizable connections between divine ideas and the architecture of Chartres that make the cathedral not only fascinating, but sacred and powerful as well.
From an artistic standpoint, Chartres Cathedral seems to incorporate symbols that suggest a concept of universal truth. The example of this in the documentary was that the facade of Chartres was noted for having references to Hinduism. Along the exterior of the cathedral are a series of ornamental engravings. The positions where the center points of the major carvings lie have a striking similarity to the positions of the seven chakras in Hinduism. These chakras are each associated with a certain number of lotus petals, which are also accurately depicted within the engravings on the cathedral. These references indicate the presence of something beyond any one religion: an openness to a larger truth.
Chartres Cathedral - A Sacred Geometry proves that this splendid cathedral is much deeper in meaning and more significant than meets the eye. There is in fact a lot that we can learn and take away from Chartres, whether visiting it in person or watching a documentary on it. Several of those interviewed in the movie told of the profound effect that spending time in the cathedral had on visitors. The program suggested that at the root of the powerful influence of Chartres Cathedral is its ability to remind humanity of the universal sacredness in life that we so often forget in the modern, fast-paced, technology-driven world.
Chartres Cathedral is famous for its labyrinth, a winding path on the floor that people can walk along until it ends in the center. The symbolic meaning behind the labyrinth seems to generously sum up the value of Chartres Cathedral as a whole. Therefore, I will conclude with the following quote from the film about the labyrinth: "When we follow the ritual dance of the labyrinth, we will discover that though the journey may look complex, there is but one part; and if we allow it to, the labyrinth will guide us inevitably to its center."
