une visite à Chartres

on friday, we went to chartres for my medieval art class. chartres is the best-preserved gothic cathedral in france, about an hour south of paris by train. unfortunately, the day was rainy and dreary, so the cathedral was extra-dark and the stained-glass windows didn't have the effect they were intended too. (this also means most of my pictures turned out poorly.) but that just means i'll be returning during the summer!!



so here is the front of the church. at first it looks symmetrical, but if you look closer, you'll see that the north and south towers are uneven - the north tower was built first and the current cathedral was rebuilt after a fire in the 12th century.



we spent a long time examining the west portals, the details of which i will spare you... but this photo is from a depiction of the nativity: there are two (and a half) shepards and some little sheep!



the west windows above the portals. the shade of blue is only found in 12th-century glass; the technique has been lost and no one has been able to recreate it.



the labyrinth is in the center of the central nave and is closed most of the year. we were lucky enough to come when it was open, so of course we walked the maze. it's a meditative, spiritual experience: many of the people visiting chartres that day were not tourists but pilgrims.



one of the rose windows, on the north side of the transept. it depicts the "good kings" and "evil kings" of the old testament.



after lunch we walked around to the north side of the church and found some posters advertising playmobile models. clearly we got pretty excited.



these are statues on the columns of the north facade. it's crazy how detailed everything is; i love how the saints stand on top of these amusing little figures.



the shrine of the black madonna. the cathedral also houses a relic of mary, a blue cloth that was supposedly her tunic or robe... didn't get a photo of that though.



then we went down into the crypt, which dates from carolingian times. although most of the walls were re-painted in the nineteenth century, this fresco is about a thousand years old. awesome.



there's also a well in the crypt (which indicates that the site was in use long before the christian era). apparently i almost fell in...


in other news, spring has sort of arrived in paris - when it's not raining, that is. my two-week spring break is coming up in a week. i'm going to istanbul, turkey and barcelona, spain. i'm super excited because while i've been lucky to travel around france and parts of northern europe, i'm definitely ready for something different. i've never been inside a mosque, i haven't been to the beach in years, and i miss trying to speak spanish with my latin friends in nyc. plus, before i leave, i'll have a few days to bum around paris, hopefully in beautiful weather, reading and drinking coffee and generally living la vie en rose.

keep in touch!

en bourgogne

i'm taking a class on medieval art and architecture, with one of the greatest professors on earth, in a country replete with examples in situ. last weekend, we took a field trip to bourgogne, a rural region a few hours south of paris, to visit some beautiful romanesque churches (and eat some beautiful food)...

first we stopped at the abbey of fontenay, an 11th-century cistercian monastery. the cistercians rejected all graven images, so there is no sculptural decor on the site. but it's gorgeous in its architecture: the stones change color with the sunlight, and the simplicity of the design is very peaceful. this is inside the church:



you see how there are no sculptures on the capitals of the columns? and how the arches line up perfectly... the entire abbey is constructed along right angles and rectangles to show the order of god's creation.



my class and my professor in the cloisters - yes, it's only four students!

next we visited vezelay, a church which holds the relics of mary magdelene. we stayed in a bed-and-breakfast in the charming little village that night. here is the mist rolling over the hills in the morning:



and a cat in a flower box!



and, of course, the portal to the church, showing christ in majesty.



(i took lots of pictures inside but they didn't turn out so well...)

saturday afternoon we headed to autun, which holds the remains of saint lazarus. i think this church was my favorite.



these arches were built later; they are probably from the fifteenth century (the church itself is twelfth-century).



our trip back to paris was far too long and we got stuck in traffic, but i have to say the sunset was worth it... this photograph doesn't capture its beauty.



i have so many more pictures that it was hard to decide what to post here! visiting the provinces makes me love france even more. this country is basically one giant farm, which is easy to forget when you're living in a city as cosmopolitan as paris. we ate amazing food and drank incredible wine as well, all straight from the nearby farms. to finish, i'll leave you with a picture of a soufflé - amazing amazing amazing!!