French+a+la+carte-+Sarah

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**__Cathedral Notre- Dame de Chartres (Cathedral or Church of our lady of Chartres) __**

 * ** Located in Chartes, France about 50 miles south of Paris. **
 * ** Built between 1193 and 1250. **
 * ** Said to be one of the quickest cathedrals ever built and has been called one of the greatest achievements in the history of architecture. **
 * **It is a popular place for tourists to visit, even for those who are not religious. **
 * **The Cathedral is known to be very well preserved. **
 * ** Most of the original stained glass windows are still in place and the architecture throughout the whole building has had very few changes made to it. The outside of the church has 3 of its walls where parts of each of those walls have hundreds of sculpted figures that tell different religious stories. **
 * **The church has to remove its lead roof during the wars of religion and used the lead to make bullets to use in this war to protect the church. All stained glass windows were taken down and hidden before the Germans invaded Chartres in 1939 at the start of World War ll. The windows were all cleaned and reloaded and put up again after the war ended. **


 * **In the Middle Ages this church was also used as a town market were people sold fabric, vegetables, fuel and wine on the steps and porches of the church. The market people paid tax to the church and the church made a lot of money from these taxes. **
 * ** Many people come to the Cathedral to view with great respect and reverence its famous relic, called the Sancta Camisa which was a gift to the Cathedral. **
 * **This Relic is thought to be the cloak or tunic that Mary was wearing at the time of Christ’s Birth. Because of this relic, the church became, by the end of the 12th century, one of the most important places in Europe for people to make a Pilgrimage to. **
 * ** I chose this church because when I read about it and saw the pictures I was amazed at how well it seemed to be preserved even after being through World War ll. All the amazing glass work also amazed me and made me think about how much work they put into this building. **