Customer Reviews

Chartres Cathedral

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Malcolm Miller is the foremost English authority on the cathedral of Chartres. He divides his time between the town of Chartres, where he personally conducts tours, and the rest of the world where he lectures and makes films and videos of the subject. He opens his tours and lectures by commenting that the cathedral is like a library--and we don't just say, "We're going to go to the library today and read all the books". Each tour or lecture consists of a general introduction and focuses on a small part of the stained glass and statuary. The core of the book is a review of the iconography of a selection of the windows and sculpture. In this manner, you learn how to "read the books" in the cathedral, and gain an understanding of the world that produced them. Once you have toured Chartres, either in person or through that other medieval miracle, printing, you will want to return again and again.

This is a superbly executed book on the famous Chartres cathedral, a gothic masterpiece which sits some 50 miles to the south west of Paris. Chartres' reputation (and its geographic proximity to Paris) assure its place as a frequent "day trip" for visitors and tourists to Paris who wish to see one of the apogees of gothic development. If you have the opportunity to visit Chartres, you most certainly will find Miller's text right in Chartres' own bookstore, as the book is truly a work worthy to be sold "on site." That fact alone speaks to the quality of this volume.

Miller's text provides a short introduction to the gothic movement, as well as the background of Chartres cathedral itself. But the focus of this book is the stained glass found in the cathedral, with a window-by-window detail of the glass, its date, and the allusions each window makes to the outside world. As such, this makes the book a valuable reference work, because one can follow the story from window to window in a way that would be difficult on-site without many days of time to do so (and using binoculars to help out!). The choice of focusing on the stained glass, rather than other features present in gothic cathedrals is justified: Chartres has some of the oldest and most-intact original stained glass of any cathedral in France, and is perhaps the single item among many others for which the structure is famous. Chartres is what is called a "dark cathedral," meaning that the available light inside the edifice is relatively low, making the interior a difficult place to see the architectural elements. But in such a setting, the stained glass takes on a "glowing" characteristic that is visually dramatic. To have a book so carefully lay out the windows for review is quite an achievement.

This is a paperback book done on large-size paper, but the covers and individual pages are of extremely high quality, durable, and glossy finish. The photographic reproductions are first-rate, and the graphic artwork used to present the material is also professionally developed. One flip through the volume and you'll be glad you added it to your library.

No visit to Chartres is complete without taking the tour of the Cathedral's walking encyclopedia Malcolm Miller. Miller's books are fantastic and give a tremendous insight into the history of Chartres and its Cathedral.

No one in the world (and I state that with full confidence) knows more about Chartres Cathedral than Malcolm Miller. What more needs to be said?

When driving out from Paris, on Autoroute 11, through the wheat fields of La Beauce, with occasional glimpses of the TGV (the French high speed-train) passing you at twice your speed, suddenly it appears, first the brown sign indicating its imminent arrival, and then the reality itself: the asymmetric towers of the cathedral at Chartres. It dominates the landscape today; imagine what it must have been like in the Middle Ages when it was built?

I've rented a gite on several occasions in nearby La Bazoche-Gouet, some 40 minutes away, which has afforded me the opportunity to visit this cathedral on several occasions also. Malcolm Miller has adopted the cathedral as his passion, and he routinely conducts tours if it there in English. His passion makes the cathedral visiting experience qualitatively different than any other in France (at least for the native English speaker). We took the tour with him, and he autographed my copy on July 03, 1996. I'd hardily recommend the tour AND the book, in order to gain a basic appreciation for this astounding human creation, for better or worse, when the peasants were sleeping with their animals for warmth.

Much of the book is pictures of the cathedral, but there is also a solid narrative account written by Miller. Throughout most of human history, fire has been the most effective tool for "urban renewal." This was true in the case of Chartres, when a fire in 1194 destroyed most of the town, including the previous cathedral, Fulbert's. Soon thereafter, work on the present structure commenced, and it took almost seven decades, until 1260, for the cathedral to be consecrated. The asymmetrical towers are the result of two architects competing views over time of how they should look. The cathedral features "flying buttresses" which were the standard architectural technique of the time to help support the immense weight of the roof on the walls.

Two-thirds of the book is dedicated to the famous stain glass windows. There are quality pictures of all the stain glass, accompanied by charts that identify each scene by number, and there is a corresponding narrative which explains the biblical derivation of the picture. In addition, there are numerous stone carvings imbedded in the cathedral's exterior, and they likewise are identified, with biblical explanations. There is also a labyrinth inlaid in the nave between the third and fourth bays, and while I was there I witnessed a woman making the rounds of it (no doubt, for "merit") on her knees. The enduring power of religion!

I feel the book could have been improved with an explanation of the techniques utilized for making stained glass at the time. Other than that, it is an excellent work, and is an essential purchase and read BEFORE you arrive. I checked Google, and Miller is apparently still conducting tours of his passion. Bravo for him, and 5-stars for his book. And one final consideration: I just finished reading the autobiography of Henry Adams The Education of Henry Adams and discovered he also wrote a book, in part, about his cathedral. I haven't read it, but if you have or do, would love some comments: Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres.

I never get tired of looking through this book. It's so beautiful. I want to get on a plane and see the cathedral in person, but this will have to do for now.