Architectural Arts



Architectural Arts

Introduction

This cathedral is located in the country of France. It is considered as one of the greatest example of French Gothic architecture. Also, it is now a UNESCO world Heritage site. During my visit, I witnessed that it is in one of the exceptional state of preservation. This cathedral has 3 great and important facades. Each of the façades has 3 portals. These portal open into the transepts from south and north and into the nave from the west side. Every façade has a large central portal. These portals were only uses for the unique or important ceremonies. On the other hand, the smaller side portals were open to many communities who wanted to use the cathedral (Historyworld.net, 2013).

Discussion

As I entered into the cathedral through the royal or central portal, my attention is captivated towards the awe inspiring and attraction seeking ceiling. This ceiling is not a very unusual kind of a thing in a cathedral since this majesty tall and splendid ceilings are used to point or signal the path to paradise. I found that chairs, which used to be there, now have not been in the aisle that will lead or take us to the apse. However, I failed to reach straight to the aisle as a floor labyrinth attracted us to wander the very known and famous labyrinth of the cathedral of Chartres (Rubens.anu.edu.au, 2013)

After finishing and completing the circuitous, I proceeded towards the apse. As I moved further, there were two transepts (left and right rectangular shapes of a cross) through which we passed by since the cathedral is designed in a shape of cruciform. There are huge pillars that line the aisle. These pillars stretch about 18 m to the ceiling. Also, at one point in the nave, I observed the vaulted ceiling. This ceiling is 36 metre in height. Also it possess stained glass window on one side of it.

It was an important point to note that, most of the original glass windows are still intact and in good condition. Before I entered the cathedral, my attention was captured by the unusual and one of its kind flying buttresses (the supporting arches over the window) on the outside part of the walls of the nave. These buttresses are used to provide a support to the vaulted ceiling as they are very tall. The extra stained glass windows are very dark. However, substantial amount of light trespasses through the window, allowing me to see the “lives of heroes like Charlemagne and Roland, biblical stories, legend of the saints and scenes of everyday medieval life”. There are around 176 windows, and all of them were covered with equally dense stained glass. In brief, I would like to give some statistical figures of the cathedral which I learned from my visit. The length of the cathedral is 130 meters width are 32 meters, ground area of about 10875 square feet, around 176 stained glass windows and a choir enclosure of 200 statues in 41 ...