Editing Chartres Cathedral (section)

==Stained glass windows==
{{See also|Stained glass windows of Chartres Cathedral}}
One of the most distinctive features of Chartres Cathedral is the stained glass, both for its quantity and quality. There are 167 windows, including rose windows, round oculi, and tall, pointed lancet windows. The architecture of the cathedral, with its innovative combination of rib vaults and flying buttresses, permitted the construction of much higher and thinner walls, particularly at the top clerestory level, allowing more and larger windows. Also, Chartres contains fewer plain or [[grisaille]] windows than later cathedrals, and more windows with densely stained glass panels, making the interior of Chartres darker but the colour of the light deeper and richer.<ref name="Houvet 2019, pg. 67">Houvet (2019), p. 67.</ref>

===12th century windows===
<gallery mode="packed" heights="300">
File:Chartres - cathédrale - lancettes de la rosace ouest.jpg|Lancet windows under the west rose window; the Jesse Window or genealogy of Christ (right); Life of Christ (center), and the Passion of Christ (left)
File:Chartres - cathédrale - ND de la belle verrière.JPG|'' Notre-Dame de la Belle-Verrière ''» or the ''Blue Virgin'' ({{Circa|1180}} and 1225)
File:Vitrail Chartres Notre-Dame 210209 1.jpg|Detail of the '' Notre-Dame de la Belle-Verrière ''
</gallery>
These are the oldest windows in the cathedral. The right window, the Jesse Window, depicts the genealogy of Christ. The middle window depicts the life of Christ, and the left window depicts the Passion of Christ, from the Transfiguration and Last Supper to the Resurrection.<ref>Houvet (2019), pp. 68–69</ref><ref>For a detailed analysis see; Paul Frankl, ''The Chronology of the Stained Glass in Chartres Cathedral'', in ''The Art Bulletin'' 45:4 Dec 1963, pp. 301–322</ref> All three of these windows were originally made around 1145 but were restored in the early 13th century and again in the 19th.<ref name="Houvet 2019, pg. 67"/>

The other 12th-century window, perhaps the most famous at Chartres, is the "Notre-Dame de la Belle-Verrière", or "The Blue Virgin". It is found in the first bay of the choir after the south transept. Most windows are made up of around 25 to 30 individual panels showing distinct episodes within the narrative; only Notre-Dame de la Belle-Verrière includes a larger image made up of multiple panels. This window is actually a composite; the upper part, showing the Virgin and Child surrounded by adoring angels, dates from around 1180 and was probably positioned at the center of the apse in the earlier building. The Virgin is depicted wearing a blue robe and sitting in a frontal pose on a throne, with the Christ Child seated on her lap raising his hand in blessing. This composition, known as the [[Seat of Wisdom|''Sedes sapientiae'']] ("Throne of Wisdom"), which also appears on the ''Portail royal'', is based on the famous cult figure kept in the crypt. The lower part of the window, showing scenes from the infancy of Christ, dates from the main glazing campaign around 1225.<ref name="Houvet 2019, pg. 67"/>

===Rose windows===
<gallery mode="packed" heights="250">
File:Vitrail Chartres-rosace 143.jpg|The west rose window {{circa|1215}}
File:Chartres_RosetteNord_121_DSC08241.jpg|North transept rose window, {{circa|1230}}
File:Chartres_RosetteSued_122_DSC08269.jpg|South transept rose window, {{circa|1221–1230}}
</gallery>
The cathedral has three large [[rose windows]]. The western rose ({{Circa|1215}}, 12&nbsp;m in diameter) shows the Last Judgment – a traditional theme for west façades. A central [[Oculus (architecture)|oculus]] showing Christ as the Judge is surrounded by an inner ring of twelve paired roundels containing angels and the Elders of the Apocalypse and an outer ring of 12 roundels showing the dead emerging from their tombs and the angels blowing trumpets to summon them to judgment.

The north transept rose (10.5&nbsp;m diameter, {{Circa|1230}}), like much of the sculpture in the north porch beneath it, is dedicated to the Virgin.<ref>For details see Delaporte & Houvet, 1926, pp. 496ff</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/palissy/IM28000460|title=Verrière de la maison de France (baie 121)|website=pop.culture.gouv.fr}}</ref> The central oculus shows the Virgin and Child and is surrounded by twelve small petal-shaped windows, four with doves (the 'Four Gifts of the Spirit'), the rest with adoring angels carrying candlesticks. Beyond this is a ring of twelve diamond-shaped openings containing the Old Testament [[Kings of Judah]], another ring of smaller lozenges containing the arms of France and [[Kingdom of Castile|Castille]], and finally a ring of semicircles containing Old Testament Prophets holding scrolls. The presence of the arms of the French king (yellow [[Fleur-de-lis|fleurs-de-lis]] on a blue background) and of his mother, [[Blanche of Castile]] (yellow castles on a red background) are taken as a sign of royal patronage for this window. Beneath the rose itself are five tall lancet windows (7.5&nbsp;m high) showing, in the center, the Virgin as an infant held by her mother, St Anne – the same subject as the trumeau in the portal beneath it. Flanking this lancet are four more containing Old Testament figures. Each of these standing figures is shown symbolically triumphing over an enemy depicted in the base of the lancet beneath them – David over Saul, Aaron over Pharaoh, St Anne over ''Synagoga'', etc.

The south transept rose (10.5&nbsp;m diameter, made {{Circa|1225–30}}) is dedicated to Christ, who is shown in the central oculus, right hand raised in [[benediction]], surrounded by adoring angels. Two outer rings of twelve circles each contain the 24 Elders of the [[Apocalypse]], crowned and carrying phials and musical instruments. The central lancet beneath the rose shows the Virgin carrying the infant Christ. Either side of this are four lancets showing the four evangelists sitting on the shoulders of four prophets – a rare literal illustration of the theological principle that the New Testament builds upon the Old Testament. This window was a donation of the Mauclerc family, the [[Counts of Dreux|Counts of Dreux-Bretagne]], who are depicted with their arms in the bases of the lancets.<ref>Claudine Lautier, ''Les vitraux de la cathédrale de Chartres. Reliques et images'', Bulletin Monumentale, 161:1, 2003, pp. 3–96</ref>

===Windows in aisles and the choir ambulatory===
{{main|The Good Samaritan Window, Chartres Cathedral}}

<gallery mode="packed" heights="250">
File:Christ telling the Good Samaritan parable to a couple Pharisees.jpg|Scene from the Good Samaritan window; Christ tells the Good Samaritan parable to the Pharisees
File:Chartres Bay 44 Good Samaritan Full.jpg|The Good Samaritan window
File:Chartres Bay 44 Good Samaritan Panel 02.jpg|Shoemakers at work in the Good Samaritan window
</gallery>

Each bay of the aisles and the choir ambulatory contains one large lancet window, most of them roughly 8.1m high by 2.2m wide.<ref>The most complete survey is Yves Delaporte, ''Les Vitraux De La Cathedrale De Chartres'', Paris, 1926</ref> The subjects depicted in these windows, made between 1205 and 1235, include stories from the Old and New Testament and the Lives of the Saints as well as typological cycles and symbolic images such as the signs of the zodiac and labours of the months. One of the most famous examples is [[The Good Samaritan Window, Cathedral of Notre-Dame: Chartres, France|the Good Samaritan parable]].

Several of the windows at Chartres include images of local tradesmen or labourers in the lowest two or three panels, often with details of their equipment and working methods. Traditionally it was claimed that these images represented the guilds of the donors who paid for the windows. In recent years however this view has largely been discounted, not least because each window would have cost around as much as a large mansion house to make – while most of the labourers depicted would have been subsistence workers with little or no disposable income. Furthermore, although they became powerful and wealthy organisations in the later medieval period, none of these trade guilds had actually been founded when the glass was being made in the early 13th century.<ref>Jane Welch Williams, ''Bread, Wine and Money: the Windows of the Trades at Chartres Cathedral'', Chicago, 1993</ref> Another possible explanation is that the cathedral clergy wanted to emphasise the universal reach of the Church, particularly at a time when their relationship with the local community was often a troubled one.

===Clerestory windows===
Because of their greater distance from the viewer, the windows in the [[clerestory]] generally adopt simpler, bolder designs. Most feature the standing figure of a saint or Apostle in the upper two-thirds, often with one or two simplified narrative scenes in the lower part, either to help identify the figure or else to remind the viewer of some key event in their life. Whereas the lower windows in the nave arcades and the ambulatory consist of one simple lancet per bay, the clerestory windows are each made up of a pair of lancets with a [[Plate tracery|plate-traceried]] rose window above. The nave and transept clerestory windows mainly depict saints and Old Testament prophets. Those in the choir depict the kings of France and Castile and members of the local nobility in the straight bays, while the windows in the [[apse]] hemicycle show those Old Testament prophets who foresaw the virgin birth, flanking scenes of the [[Annunciation]], [[Visitation (Christianity)|Visitation]] and [[Nativity of Jesus|Nativity]] in the axial window.

====Later windows====
[[File:Cathédrale de Chartres - Chapelle de Vendôme.JPG|thumb|right|150px|Window of the Vendôme Chapel, {{Circa|1415}}]]
On the whole, Chartres' windows have been remarkably fortunate. The medieval glass largely escaped harm during the [[Huguenot]] [[iconoclasm]] and the [[French Wars of Religion|religious wars]] of the 16th century although the west rose sustained damage from artillery fire in 1591. The relative darkness of the interior seems to have been a problem for some. A few windows were replaced with much lighter grisaille glass in the 14th century to improve illumination, particularly on the north side<ref>Meredith Parsons Lillich, ''A Redating of the Thirteenth Century Grisaille Windows of Chartres Cathedral'', in ''Gesta'', xi, 1972, pp. 11–18</ref> and several more were replaced with clear glass in 1753 as part of the reforms to liturgical practice that also led to the removal of the ''jubé'' (rood screen). The installation of the Vendôme Chapel between two buttresses of the nave in the early 15th century resulted in the loss of one more lancet window, though it did allow for the insertion of a fine late-Gothic window with [[donor portrait]]s of [[Louis, Count of Vendôme|Louis de Bourbon]] and his family witnessing the [[Coronation of the Virgin]] with assorted saints.

Although estimates vary (depending on how one counts compound or grouped windows) approximately 152 of the original 176 stained glass windows survive – far more than any other medieval cathedral anywhere in the world.

Like most medieval buildings, the windows at Chartres suffered badly from the corrosive effects of atmospheric acids during the [[Industrial Revolution]] and thereafter. The majority of windows were cleaned and restored by the famous local workshop ''Atelier Lorin'' at the end of the 19th century, but they continued to deteriorate. During World War II most of the stained glass was removed from the cathedral and stored in the surrounding countryside to protect it from damage. At the close of the war the windows were taken out of storage and reinstalled. Since then, an ongoing programme of conservation has been underway and [[isothermal]] secondary glazing was gradually installed on the exterior to protect the windows from further damage.