"Chartres Cathedral"

Chartres Cathedral is one of the best-known and most influential examples of High Gothic and Classic Gothic architecture,  It stands on Romanesque basements, while its north spire is more recent (1507–1513) and is built in the more ornate Flamboyant style.

The cathedral is well-preserved and well-restored: many of the original stained glass windows survive intact, while the architecture has seen only minor changes since the early 13th century. The building's exterior is dominated by heavy flying buttresses which allowed the architects to increase the window size significantly, while the west end is dominated by two contrasting spires – a 349 ft plain pyramid completed around 1160 and a 377 ft early 16th-century Flamboyant spire on top of an older tower. Equally notable are the three great façades, each adorned with hundreds of sculpted figures illustrating key theological themes and narratives.