GOMES DA SILVEIRA CLEBER

Absolutely incredible experience. I studied Chartres Cathedral in my art history class, and seeing it in person was absolutely breathtaking. If you visit on a Friday the labyrinth is open to the public. This was the most mesmerizing part of the whole experience, watching visitors wander the maze in a kind of dance while silently contemplating the great history and faith around them.

Beautiful cathedral with lots of history. We spent a good chunk of our morning there walking around. We paid for tickets to go into the treasury and it was totally worth it to see the items there and the additional beautiful stained glass. The outside is also magnificent and we loved the option to eat at a cafe outside and look at it.

The Notre Dame Cathedral in Chartres is a unique and excellent example of Romanesque-Gothic architecture, which recently underwent a cleaning and restoration of the main section of the church. The side aisles have not been touched yet, which gives you a great comparison of how centuries of soot and dirt hide the original beauty of the sculptures and windows. The stained glass is unlike others in the intensity and use of blue color as well as the story composition of each window. We used a guide (an American living in France), who expertly explained the history of the church, the village, and the art found inside. The entire village and cathedral are worth an afternoon trip from Paris!

One of the great cathedrals of Europe and absolutely not to be missed. The medieval stained glass is particularly stunning. The only shame is that the QR code for an excellent free app which enables one to drill down and get an explanation for each pane and each part of the pane was outside at the entrance to the museum. I only find it after our visit. Don't make the same mistake.

This is a huge cathedral with excellent old stained glass windows. Take the audio tour option. Easily done in 1.5 hours. What surprised me was how genuinely peaceful it felt. I took an hour day trip by train from Paris. Super easy. Had lunch at the excellent Serpente Cafe next to the cathedral.

After a very extensive clean up and refurbishment process it looks even more magnificent than before. Like all majestic buildings of this period it must have been a truly remarkable place to be.

Old 13th century church. They did quite alot of renewal work. In my opinion respected the old version as much as they could. Beautiful coloured windows

The Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Chartres, stands as one of the greatest achievements of medieval Christianity and Gothic architecture. The site has been sacred since at least the 4th century, when an early Christian church was built there, likely replacing a pre-Christian religious site. Over the centuries, a series of churches rose and fell due to fires, with each reconstruction expanding the scale and ambition of the building. Chartres became a major pilgrimage destination in the Middle Ages, especially after it acquired the Sancta Camisia, believed to be the tunic worn by the Virgin Mary at the birth of Christ. The present cathedral was constructed primarily between 1194 and 1220, after a devastating fire destroyed much of the earlier Romanesque church. Remarkably, the rebuilding was swift and unified in style, resulting in an unusually harmonious High Gothic structure. Its soaring verticality, flying buttresses, and monumental west façade—known as the Royal Portal—reflect the theological vision of the era: to draw the human mind upward toward God. The cathedral’s sculptural program is especially important, portraying Christ as cosmic ruler and emphasizing Mary’s role in salvation history, a focus that gave Chartres its enduring Marian identity. Chartres is perhaps best known for its stained glass windows, most of which survive from the early 13th century—an extraordinary rarity. These deep blue windows (often called Chartres blue) depict biblical narratives, saints, tradespeople, and donors, presenting a visual catechism for medieval worshippers. Inside the nave lies the famous labyrinth, set into the floor around 1200, symbolizing a spiritual journey toward God, often associated with pilgrimage and penitential prayer. In 1979, Chartres became one of the first sites designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, recognized not only for its architectural brilliance but for its profound influence on Western art, theology, and devotion.