Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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Chartres Cathedral
Chartres' old church burned to the ground on June 10, 1194. So the small town built a
big-city church, one of the most impressive structures in all of Europe, to contain a prize
relic: what was purportedly the veil of Mary, mother of Jesus. Some of the children who
watched the original church's destruction were actually around to help rebuild the cathed-
ralandattenditsdedicationMassin1260.That'sastonishing,consideringthatotherGoth-
ic cathedrals, such as Paris' Notre-Dame, took literally centuries to build. Having been
built so quickly, the cathedral has a unity of architecture, statuary, and stained glass that
captures the spirit of the Age of Faith like no other church.
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