Historical Builder › Cathedrals › Chartres Cathedral
How Long Did It Take to Build Chartres Cathedral?
Short answer: about 26 years, from 1194 to 1220.
Its great relic is the tunic of the Virgin Mary, said to be a gift from Charlemagne. Historians doubt it.
What the sources say about the building period
Partly built from 1145; reconstructed over 26 years after the fire of 1194. UNESCO World Heritage Centre Official source
Stone and crew in numbers
- Country and type
- France, cathedral
- Stone in the walls
- 55,000 to 90,000 m³ Estimate
- For comparison
- about 29 Olympic pools of stone, or 7,250 truckloads
- Average crew
- about 333 workers (model value: the crew that would need exactly this long, working without a break)
Volume basis: 130 m long; nave 16.4 m wide, 37 m high; transept 64 m. Checked against measurements. Our estimates come from published dimensions and are shown as a range. The result is a simple model, not a measured fact.
Where the stone came from
Berchères limestone from quarries in Berchères-les-Pierres, about 5 km south of Chartres, according to this source. Some stone may come from the Paris area. EarthCache Chartres (geocaching.com) Secondary, provisional
Plan
Legend: tradition, not evidence
The tunic of the Virgin Mary kept at Chartres, the Sancta Camisia, is said to be a gift from Charlemagne.
What we know: Historians doubt it, since Charlemagne never went to the Holy Land. The relic still made Chartres a pilgrimage town.
Wikipedia: Chartres Cathedral Tradition, not evidence
Build it yourself
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