Chartres Cathedral is in a prosperous trading town, the site of four annual trade fairs on the Feast Days of the Virgin Mary and a popular pilgrimage site which displayed the reputed tunic that Mary wore when giving birth to Christ.
A series of earlier cathedrals in Chartres, beginning in the fourth century, were destroyed by fire.
The cathedral immediately previous to the present church burned in 1194, leaving only the crypt, towers, and the recently built west front.
Rebuilding began the same year, with support from the Pope, the King, and the wealthy nobility and merchants of the city.
Work was nearly completed by 1225, with the architecture, glass and sculpture finished, though the seven steeples were still being rebuilt.
It was not formally reconsecrated until 1260.
Only a few changes were made since that time, including the addition of a new chapel dedicated to Saint Piat in 1326, and the covering of the choir columns with stucco and the addition marble reliefs in behind the stalls in the 1750s.

The new cathedral was 130.2 meters long and 30 meters high in the nave longer and higher than Notre-Dame de Paris.
Since the cathedral was constructed with the new flying buttresses, the walls were more stable, enabling the builders to eliminate the tribune level, and have more space for windows.

The lower portions of the west front (1134-1150) are Early Gothic.
The fronts of the north and south transepts are High Gothic, as is the sculpture of the six thirteenth-century portals.
The spire on the north tower is later Flamboyant.
Chartres still has much of its original medieval stained glass, famous for the deep color called Chartres blue.
Chartres Cathedral is in a prosperous trading town, the site of four annual trade fairs on the Feast Days of the Virgin Mary and a popular pilgrimage site which displayed the reputed tunic that Mary wore when giving birth to Christ. A series of earlier cathedrals in Chartres, beginning in the fourth century, were destroyed by fire. The cathedral immediately previous to the present church burned in 1194, leaving only the crypt, towers, and the recently built west front. Rebuilding began the same year, with support from the Pope, the King, and the wealthy nobility and merchants of the city. Work was nearly completed by 1225, with the architecture, glass and sculpture finished, though the seven steeples were still being rebuilt. It was not formally reconsecrated until 1260. Only a few changes were made since that time, including the addition of a new chapel dedicated to Saint Piat in 1326, and the covering of the choir columns with stucco and the addition marble reliefs in behind the stalls in the 1750s.
The new cathedral was 130.2 meters long and 30 meters high in the nave longer and higher than Notre-Dame de Paris. Since the cathedral was constructed with the new flying buttresses, the walls were more stable, enabling the builders to eliminate the tribune level, and have more space for windows. 
The lower portions of the west front (1134-1150) are Early Gothic. The fronts of the north and south transepts are High Gothic, as is the sculpture of the six thirteenth-century portals. The spire on the north tower is later Flamboyant. Chartres still has much of its original medieval stained glass, famous for the deep color called Chartres blue.
High Gothic