The façade of Notre-Dame de Chartres reveals three major stages of construction.
The oldest elements - the Royal Door, the three windows above it, the three lower floors of the North Tower and the south spire - date back to between 1134 and 1160, a period of transition from Romanesque to Gothic Architecture.
These elements survived the fire of 1194, and were incorporated into the rebuilding programme. Technical progress made it possible to build higher than the original cathedral, and the Rose window was added to the façade. By the end of the 13th century, the north tower boasted another storey.
It was between 1506 and 1513, following a further fire, that the architect Jehan Texier, known as Jehan de Beauce, built the north spire in Flamboyant Gothic style.

The main entrance to the cathedral was built between 1145 and 1150. Its three doors, crowned with sculpted tympani and framed by columns carved with statues, were an architectural innovation. The scenes represented, from the Old and New Testaments, are still admired by sculptors worldwide.

Several kings of France have worshipped at the cathedral, and on the 27th of February 1594, the formerly protestant king Henry IV was crowned here, Reims cathedral, the traditional site of investiture, being in the hands of hostile catholic forces. The name Royal Door remains to witness these events.




Click on "Video" to follow the description of the western façade of Chartres Cathedral.

Chartres Cathedral is one of the buildings affiliated to the Centre for National Monuments.