Touring Chartres Cathedral: Walking the Labyrinth in Chartres, France with Savvy Mom Ruth
Paget
On
a prior visit to Chartres Cathedral, I purchased a French-language academic
journal that discussed the uses for the labyrinth in this spot.
The
journal entitled simply Nôtre Dame de Chartres was devoted to the large
labyrinth at Chartres that is placed in the floor of the nave area of the
Cathedral.
In
the past, worshipers stood during mass and could easily see the labyrinth. Today, chairs cover the floor most of the
time, so scholars have to look at drawings to know what the labyrinth at
Chartres looks like.
Several
cathedrals had labyrinths in the Middle Ages that have not made it to the
modern period due to neglect and/or purposeful destruction.
The
academic journal I read said that in the rare cases where scholars know the
names of the master masons (engineer-architects), it is because their names
were inscribed in the labyrinths.
The
article went on to describe how the labyrinth almost equaled the Western Rose
Window in diameter.
Master
masons may have used the labyrinth as a blueprint and measuring device to build
other parts of the Cathedral. The author
of the article said that even rope could be used to measure off lengths for use
elsewhere in the church.
The
center of the labyrinth at the Cathedral at Chartres held a copper disc that
showed the combat of Theseus and the Minotaur from ancient Greek
mythology.
Theseus
was able to kill the Minotaur and escape the labyrinth with the help of a woman
in much the same way that Christ helped save men in difficulty in the Christian
world. (Life is constant struggle, so we
all need help.)
The
Theseus story from Greek mythology is called pagan in most church booklets you
read in France. However, people still
know and refer to mythology today. This
was even truer in the Middle Ages when Christianity was a relatively young
religion with rival religions and heretical sects in its own ranks.
Peasants
and nobility alike could understand from the Theseus story the metaphor of
Christ being like Ariadne, who gave Theseus the thread to escape the labyrinth
once he had killed the Minotaur in Knossos, Crete.
Another
way in which the labyrinth was used was to replicate the Road to Jerusalem as a
pilgrimage. Parishoners, who could
afford, it were encouraged to go on pilgrimages in much the way that Muslims
are encouraged to go on the hajj to Mecca today, if they have paid all their
debts and can afford it.
Some
labyrinths appear on church walls as well.
In that location, they remind me of the Stations of the Cross that
surround pews in Catholic Churches. Each
Sabbath, the Catholic faithful can replicate Christ’s walk to Calvary, if they
choose to do so.
People
who would like to know more about the labyrinth of Chartres Cathedral can
consult the Loyola University of Chicago website devoted to Medieval Studies
with pages set aside just for the Labyrinth of Chartres.
By
Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
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