A Restoration Study of the Southwest Tower at Chartres

Abstract

No VISITOR or student of Chartres fails to admire the sturdy old southwest tower of the cathedral, but the satisfaction of the more discerning is somewhat diminished by the way in which the nave shoulders and crowds against it on the northern side. We should know, even if we had not explicit evidence,' that it was designed for a smaller building. The two western towers were, in fact, planned to stand a short distance in front of a spacious basilica dating from 1020 and 1031. The north tower, begun about 1134, is the earlier, but by 1150 both towers had reached the second story level; about 1145 a new fagade for the church was undertaken. This was set deep in the recess between the towers, and included the celebrated Royal Portal. Construction continued on the south tower, which was completed about 1190. Meanwhile the church had been lengthened by relocating the fagade at the front plane of the towers. All of this later work survived the wonderful and miserable fire of 1194, which reduced the church proper to ruins and was the occasion for the building of the existing structure. It was my purpose in making the drawing presented here to show what the appearance of the cathedral might be, had the old basilica with its west front of 1145 come down to us, and in particular to show how magnificent was the profile of the southwest tower when it still stood free. The north spire is an invention, merely representing, more or less, what must have been in the mind of the designer of the other; the drawing of the basilica is as non-committal as possible, owing to the limited data, and it must be confessed that two eleventh-century belfries of uncertain location do not appear; but after all, the purpose of the picture is to show the unsurpassed loveliness of the old spire. KENNETH JOHN CONANT, Harvard University.