Chartres Cathedral

A Gothic cathedral in Chartres, Eure-et-Loir, southwest of Paris. Mostly built in about thirty years in the early 13th century, it keeps most of its original stained glass and was listed as a World Heritage Site in 1979.

Chartres Cathedral stands in the town of Chartres, about 80 km southwest of Paris. After a fire in 1194 destroyed the earlier Romanesque cathedral, most of the present building went up in the following three decades, by around 1220. Its west front is marked by two contrasting spires: a plain pyramid of about 105 metres completed around 1160 and a 113-metre Flamboyant spire added in the early 16th century.

Most of its original stained glass windows survive intact, and its architecture has changed little since the 13th century, making it one of the best-preserved Gothic cathedrals. Pilgrims come to venerate the Sancta Camisa, a relic said to be the tunic of the Virgin Mary. UNESCO listed the cathedral as a World Heritage Site in 1979, calling it the high point of French Gothic art.