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The most magnificent Gothic cathedrals in France
Chartres Cathedral
The Cathedral in Chartres (XII-XIV centuries) is considered one of the most beautiful in Europe. Chartres, where the precious relics of our lady, enjoyed the special protection of king Louis IX, who gave the Cathedral a large window-rose. Stained glass Windows donated to the Cathedral, the artisans of the city.
In the construction of the Cathedral was attended by many people: for example, in 40-ies of the XII century Norman thousands of pilgrims came to Chartres and a few months to destroy stone blocks in the walls of the Cathedral reach two to three meters long and one meter in height. The Western facade is the only thing that survived from an earlier building. Its creation dates to 1170. The façade is adorned with three richly decorated with magnificent stone carvings of the portal belonging to the XII century. From the North and South facades of the building you can see is very typical of French Gothic, a huge, round lace box, in which the openings in lead casements inserted stained glass. The diameter of the Windows of the transept is 13 meters. A screen similar to this entered art history under the name “rose”. It first appeared in the Chartres Cathedral, Continue reading
Cyclopean structures of antiquity
Not far from the ancient Rauza in the wilderness of the forest… there is a wonderful place – these are the ruins of some historical buildings, which consumed the stones of great magnitude, taken, apparently, from afar, because close to the stone brittle. The building was listed on the large space and tiled to half of the Windows; around at a considerable distance are the same large stones, and some of them are scattered in the same direction, towards the building field. The antiquity of this building show the century-old trees, growing within her, and long moss-grown wall. People’s imagination inhabits this mysterious place of spirits, calling it “devil’s ancient settlement”.
In the late nineteenth century the correspondent of “Kaluga gubernia news” visited devil’s Fort and also saw on the hill cyclopean construction of giant stones:
The road went first, ordinary dense forest, then opened up before us a valley with a ditch at the bottom, and after SIM the steep ascent of a high mountain…. On the way to the mountain we come across the unusual size of the stones. Climbing, or rather scarykiuys higher up the mountain, on the cliff we saw a big komennoista, covered with moss on the sides and trees at the top. Continue reading
The BRONZE AGE (around the 2nd Millennium BC)
With the improvement of method of production, there are new tools made of copper and bronze. Occurs the first major social division of labor, increasing wealth inequality. Then the craft separated from agriculture, is the second major division of labor. All this played a crucial role in the development of civilization. In the Nile valley, in Mesopotamia and China established a slave system, the first class of the state. All this led to the development of different spheres of human spiritual activity.
The overwhelming significance of monumental architecture associated with the development of religious beliefs, the cult of ancestors and nature. These were megalithic structures – menhirs (gr. meg). – a large, lit – rock) – single cigar-shaped stone pillars with a height up to 20 m (Brittany, France); sometimes they stretched in parallel rows for several miles (“the Stone army” – the Caucasus, Armenia; the alley of menhirs in Brittany); Continue reading
