The stained-glass of Chartres Cathedral is famous for its blue colour, the secret of which has not entirely been handed down to us. The clear or "Chartres" blue was obtained chiefly through the use of cobalt. The glass also contains micro-bubbles, trapped in the texture, which makes the passage of light unique.

Chartres Cathedral is a "glass Bible". It is made up of 176 glass windows from the 12th and 13th centuries, covering an area of 2,500 square metres, and representing more than 20,000 human figures from both religious and secular stories.

Notre-Dame de la Belle Verrière, from the first half of the 12th century, is the most famous of these windows, renowned throughout the world. It is also called "The Stained-Glass Mona Lisa".



During restoration work in 2012, we were lucky enough to be able to film the "Belle Verrière", and other stained-glass windows from the scaffolding, 17 metres up.
To see this unique footage, click on "Video".

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