lundi, décembre 05, 2005
Une jolie petite ville et un voile d'une vierge
Another out-of-Paris experience this time... All the way to Chartres, a very pretty little town a hundred or so kilometers from Paris. Famous for its cathedral, especially the stained glass in said catehdral, and even more especially the blue colour in said stained glass. Apparently they don't to this day, know how to get the blue that ye olde Chartresians pulled off, and obviously recording keeping those days could be improved upon.
Anyway, see for yourselves, it looks blue to me!
There was also an exhibition on about contemporary stained glass, which I thought was more interesting. The old-style stained glass just doesn't excite me like it obviously excites some. Most of the panels were made by a South Korean artist turned french catholic priest called Kim En Joong and they supposedly represented religious scenes (??), and I thought they were beautiful.
Chartres is also the home of the veil that Mary apparently wore at some stage. This bit of fabric was given to Chartres by Charlemagne in 876, and has apparently been dated from around the right time. Luckily in the six times the cathedral burned down between 743 and 1836, the veil was saved!
Pretty coblestone streets.
I have no explanation.
** Spoiler Alert **
Est-ce que je suis seul dans mes soupçons que le nouveau peu du tissu a été acheté du magasin local d'art quand le vieux a été détruit?
But they claim to have dated the fabric, and some of the fires only burnt the wooden framework. But you know me, ever the believer.
I think it is a better claim to relic-hood than the skeletons of the three wise men that the cathedral in Cologne claims to have in a jewel encrusted box!
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