Gothic Architecture in Chartres Cathederal

In the early 1100’s, the French Arch Bishop thought it was time for a new place to worship god. The architects of the time figured out that if you use a new type of arch-like structures on the outsides of the walls calles flying buttresses then you can cut the thickness of the walls into the fraction of the size that it would need to be with the walls of Chartres Cathederal being as tall as they were. This would inturn make the walls open for more windows and were filled with colored glass that are called stained glass. This let people worship god in the light that he was meant to be worshipped in.

The Gothic style was one rooted in architecture and any other forms of art were basically created to help embellish the houses of the Lord. Gothic churches were - in contrast to the Romanesque churches - very "light". The belief in divine light and the powers it contained had a great deal to do with how Gothic cathedrals were constructed. Gothic architects solved the problem of very little light coming through the windows, by conceiving of a superior form of building. How'd they do that? Well, instead of having large walls with large interior support - as in Romanesque style - the Gothic churches were made of "exoskel

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Many cathedrals and churches were built. In reality, there are numerous subtle adjustment and variations in the details.

This building is the prototype Gothic building, but the cathedral is in fact a mix of different styles. To make a church the same size as Chartres without the flying buttress would require walls more than 30 feet thick, giant arches inside, and no windows.

In todays society not many people know about the Gothic style of architecture. Suger was a fellow student and friend to King Louis VI, minister of Louis VII, and regent during the second crusade. Having made that statement, the name of the single person who most personifies this concept must immediately follow: Abbot Suger of Saint Denis, the royal abbey located just outside Paris. The technique, first developed in the High Middle Ages, allowed cathedrals to reach unprecedented heights. Also, the weight of the construction was transferred from the interior to the exterior by way of what is known as the "flying buttress" system - massive piers on the outside of the church. In the Gothic period, builders developed the flying buttress, an exterior structure composed of thin half-arches, or flyers. Back in the 1100’s the new Gothic style of architecture was able to show many new architectural features including flying butresses, stained glass windows, and pointed arches. The Chartres Cathedral boasts the larges maze of any church in the world and the most stained glass windows.

As the studios traveled from job site to job site, they took sketches and models along with their tools. Stained glass historians today re-trace the work of traveling studios.

Approximate Word count = 1561
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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