Excerpt…
“Look up,” Hari said. “Look up, now.”
Obediently they opened their eyes and looked up, and were assaulted by a blaze of colored light shining through windows that on every side reached for the sky, for the heavens, for the stars themselves. Crowned figures royal and religious, common folk wielding axe and saw and scythe, burghers making and merchants selling, saints ascending unto heaven and angels on outspread wings, mother and babe, mother and man, mother and sacrificial son. Green vines like emeralds and roses like rubies and borders like amber and stars like diamonds twined about the figures, creating a jeweled setting for an already almost blindingly dazzling display. Dumbstruck, they drifted in ones and twos from window to window, necks craned, eyes straining.
Only Alaric and perhaps Hari understood half of what they were looking at, but somehow they knew that they were reading a book, a book that could tell them the history of the culture of the land in which they now stood. Of course, Johanna thought, of course, in a land where so few people could read, of course the church must have a way to imprint its legends on the lay folk, who after all could not spend all of their time listening to sermons. Here was their story, all their stories, written in light and color, for everyone to see and remember. But it was more than just a book of the church: it was a book of the people as well, kings to commoners. You knew where you were in society, who you were when you came here. Here there was certainty. Here there was clarity. Here there was comfort in the regular order of things.
Dana sez–
Chartres is my favorite European cathedral. I’ve been there three times and I’ll go again if I get the chance. Of course I was going to write it into Silk and Song.
Photos taken in 2012, when I was on a research trip for Silk and Song. Above, exterior main door. Below from left, a flying buttress, interior arches, exterior corner. The first and second times I saw Chartres it was black with accumulated centuries of grime. In 2012 they’d just finished cleaning it and it looked brand new.
Everything Wu Company feels inside this cathedral, I have felt. After all the action of the previous chapters, it felt natural to end this part of their journey in a place whose peace and beauty would help them begin to heal from their grief.
Chatter Silk and Song Chartres marco polo Silk and Song silk road
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My favourite cathedral too., with its mismatched towers and wonderful external carvings, and, of course, the unforgettable stained glass.. Like you I have been there several times. The last visit I stayed a few nights in the original pilgrim’s hostel behind the Cathedral. Thank you for the post which brought back wonderous memories.