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- [Narrator] Created to the glory of the Virgin Mary,
the Cathedral of Chartres.
The west facade with its sculptured portals
of the 12th century, centers upon Christ.
Enthroned in majesty and blessing all who enter
as they pass before the attending kings and queens.
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In 1194, the earlier Romanesque church,
which stood here, burned down.
Only this tower and the west facade remained.
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About the year 1200,
masons, artists, and the inspired faithful came to Chartres
from across all France to build a new cathedral.
The great buttresses, an invention of Gothic architects,
held back the thrust of these high walls,
released now to grow even higher,
to be pierced by ever more spacious light-giving windows.
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Covered with a richness of carved figures,
the portals of the cathedral present an encyclopedic account
of religious history and Christian virtue.
Above the north portal, a carved
The Entombment and Resurrection of Mary,
and her coronation as Queen of Heaven.
Below, stand Old and New Testament figures
who foretold of the coming of Christ.
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At the south portal, The Last Judgment.
A stern Christ confronts the worshiper with his choice:
Heaven and the joys of the blessed,
or hell and the horrors of damnation.
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Sculpture flowered at Chartres.
The earlier column statues of the west
with their new humanity,
were followed about the year 1200 by the subtle
philosophic figures of the north and south portals.
A fresh interest in classical antiquity
led to sculpture freed from stone blocks and columns,
freed to moved among natural forms with strength,
ease, and courtly elegance, and full physical beauty.
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For bright is that which is brightly coupled
with the bright and bright is the noble edifice
which is pervaded by the new light.
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