know your cathedrals! notre dame reims chartres amiens salisbury saint chapelle

Know Your Cathedrals!

Notre DameReims

ChartresAmiens

Salisbury

Saint Chapelle

Notre Dame Reims

Chartres Amiens

Salisbury

Saint Chapelle

Amiens

Chartres

Amiens

St. Denis

Reims

Royal Portal – Chartres Cathedral

Old Testament queen and two kings,

from the Royal Portal at Chartres Cathedral

Chartres, France ca 1145-1155

Notre Dame

The immense rose window and lancets of Chartres Cathedral’s north transept were the gift of the Queen of France, Blanche of Castile, around 1220.

Mary appears in the roundel at the center of the rose, which resembles a gem-studded book cover or cloisonné brooch. Below, in the lancets, are Saint Anne and four Old Testament prophets, supporting the New Testament figures above, as on the Royal Portal.

Rose window and lancets, north transeptChartres, France ca 1220

Virgin and Child (Virgin of Paris), Notre Dame

Paris, France, early 14th century

Praxiteles, Hermes and Dionysus

Late Classical Greek

Tree of JesseWest Façade, Chartres

c1150-1170

Jesse was the father of King David, thus an ancestor to Mary

& Jesus.

A family tree literally connects Jesus with the house of David.

Fourteen prophets flank the tree in half-moons.

Interior of the Upper ChapelSainte-Chapelle, Paris, France ca 1243-1248

Rayonnant (Radiant) Style

Stained glass makes up about 75% of the cathedral walls

St. Chappelle

Norwich Cathedral,England

Exeter Cathedral,England

Sailsbury Cathedral, England