This document reproduces in its entirety a long article on the crypts of Chartres Cathedral, and has no scientific value. It serves as an introduction to a work on the enhancement of the lower parts, and thus helps to identify the specific features of such a space.
A rare configuration
Most of the volumes involved are not, strictly speaking, those of a ‘crypt’ – as the term is usually understood – but of a true ‘lower church’. Numerous lighted openings were provided from the outset. Today, the crypt walls are semi-buried. However, depending on the perimeter concerned, this buried part concerns no more than 10%, 30% or 60% of the elevation between the crypt floor and the cathedral floor. The immediate perception of the site is that of a long corridor, whose processional function the academics tend to confirm.
The lower space was conceived as a place to welcome pilgrims, inviting them on a journey of prayer and song, as opposed to the upper vessel, dedicated to the celebration of the Eucharist. The galleries (more than 250 m long) make Chartres the longest crypt in the world – if not the largest. The idea for the crypt was the brainchild of Bishop Fulbert, whose spiritual and intellectual stature was once again highlighted in 2006, the millennium of his accession to the episcopate.
A focus on archaeology and art history
In this crypt, a well can be seen, which has been dated to between the 2nd century BC and the 2nd century AD. Research – by a number of controversial authors – has yet to establish a completely satisfactory solution for understanding the structures in place for buildings dating from before the year 1000. The consensus is that Gallo-Roman and Carolingian remains can be found in one excavation corridor. The ‘Crypte St Lubin’ (Martyrium) probably dates from the late 10th century.
Fulbert’s lower church, the structuring element of the crypts, is perfectly documented: it was built between spring 1020 and autumn 1024. It is therefore an extraordinary testimony to a model of architecture (pre-Romanesque) that is under-represented in France.
A great place of spirituality – rooted in tradition
Notre-Dame de Sous-Terre (and the adjacent well) are the object of centuries-old veneration, which has established the Chartres crypt as one of the world’s leading Marian shrines. In the years 2005-2006-2007, for example, sixty-seven nationalities wished to celebrate here with their pilgrim communities – if the priests’ visitors’ books are anything to go by. The rectorate’s intention is to encourage prayer in a more decisive way – whether by groups or individuals.
Notre-Dame de Sous-Terre has been associated with the myth of the ‘Virgin to give birth’. The argument goes as follows: even before the year 0, Celtic priests were miraculously warned that a virgin in a distant land would soon give birth to the Savior. They begin to pray before a statue dedicated to her. Beyond the historical analyses (Chartrains’ attachment to Marian devotion, so strong that “everything must have its source here”, the need to gain notoriety at a time when the prestige of episcopal sees depended on their seniority), this tradition is respectable, so much so that it left its mark on French Catholicism – to a considerable extent when the crypt was reopened to worship in 1860.
The presence of such a figuration of the ‘mother’, buried within the earth element, in contact with water: we can also see how this place has become an anchor point for alternative spiritualities, essentially linked to the New Age.
On-site display of priceless works of art
One of the crypt’s chapels houses a number of colonnettes and statues from the royal portal – the result of restorations undertaken in the 70’s. These are sculptures with an international appeal: among the most expensive in the world – even if a transaction is possible; among those that 19th and 20th century artists repeatedly present as unsurpassable moments in universal art (e.g. Auguste Rodin, Henri Matisse).
A contemporary art presence
The paradox of Chartres is this. No master stained-glass artist could completely shake off the cathedral’s influence, so unique is the existing ensemble in the art of stained glass. And yet, he can’t – because, by definition, the windows are in place. The crypt has thus benefited from a kind of air draft: stained glass windows by ateliers Lorin (1873), stained glass windows by Gabriel Loire (1925 – on the theme of Fulbert as teacher and builder), stained glass windows by Père Couturier (1937 – Saint Jean Baptiste, Saint Louis, Ste Jeanne d’Arc), stained glass windows by Simone Flandrin (1975 – abstract), stained glass windows by Kim En Joong (2006 – in tribute to Fulbert on the occasion of the millennium), cross by Pierre Le Cacheux (2006), wall of light by Udo Zembok (2006).
The result is a sort of journey through the art of glassmaking, a counterpoint to the “definitive” ensemble visible in the upper section.
