A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com - Chartres Cathedral is not an ordinary place but a symbol of power of the secret knowledge of the ancients.
It is a place of many never disclosed secrets related to a sacred spring, a strong influence of energy emanating from the earth or the mysterious history of stained glass technique that suddenly appeared in architecture between the 10th and 11th centuries, and already in its perfect form.
The knowledge and techniques used in Chartres' construction along with its builders also remain a mystery. Of all the cathedrals, Chartres is regarded as one - if not the most perfect expression - of the architecture in the unique era of cathedrals in European history.
No chemist has so far understood or explained the mysterious origins of it.
How could that happen when no gradual development of the technique was ever recorded?
Napoleon once said: "...an atheist would feel ill at ease here.." This was his impression of the great temple's inside.
The four beasts of Apocalypse are with us from the beginning...
The four Evangelists are represented as four winged creatures: Mark, a lion, Luke, an ox, John, an eagle, and Matthew, a man. Rev. 4:7
"And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle."
A lion excels in strength and boldness. An ox excels in diligence and patience. An eagle excels in quickness and piercing sight, and in soaring high; and the angels, who excel man in all these respects, put on these appearances.
Chartres Cathedral's true mystery are the Gothic stained-glass windows closely related to the great times of Gothic architecture and not beyond. They represent master composition of light and color, and stand in perfect contrast against dark, stone walls of the church. But it's not only a visual beauty that fascinates but also the technique itself.
It doesn't react to light like ordinary glass, but seems to turn into a precious stone that itself becomes luminous.
No one knows exactly who built this very complex structure of Chartres Cathedral. Did builders with secret knowledge create this masterpiece in ancient times?
An intriguing labyrinth can be found on the floor.
The Cathedral's name "Chartres" comes from the Carnutes, a powerful Celtic people that lived in the region. Located southwest of Paris, France, in a small town of Chartres with 42000 inhabitants, the Cathedral has strong connections with the Knights Templar and sacred geometry.
Numbers, shapes and angles were used to design this church.
Several measurements at Chartres correspond with those of the Great Pyramid and Solomon's temple. Solomon was an initiate of the Egyptian mysteries.
Some have suggested that knowledge indispensable to built, Chartres Cathedral originates from two stone tablets found in the Ark of the Covenant, bearing the divine inscription of "The Law".
"The Law" is commonly referred to the Ten Commandments forming the foundation of God's covenant with the land of Israel. "When the LORD finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God." - (Exodus 31).
Those who brought this knowledge were the Knights Templar from Jerusalem, the order founded by Hugues de Payen in 1119.
See also:
Mysterious Camerano Underground City – Secret Meeting Place For Knights Templar?
Knights Templar – Their Clothing And Eating Habits According To Exceptionally Strict Rules Only
It is doubtful if we will ever know the true story of Chartres Cathedral. One thing, however, is sure enough; those, who built it were definitely not beginners but very skilled master craftsmen inspired by faith in the divine.
The Cathedral, standing on a tumulus-like mound, was meticulously built over a sacred sanctuary of Druids, the sacred site of strange and unknown powers associated with visions, healing and altered states of consciousness.
It is a temple with the largest known Gothic vault and one of the highest in the world. The holy soil of the site was known to the whole Celtic world long before the Christianity came.
Ancient records say that a remarkable statue of Our Lady of the Underworld, the Black Virgin, with a child on her knees, was found in a crypt beneath the church that then stood there.
The statue was sprinkled with water from a Druidic well dating back to Gallo-Roman times and people drank this water. Druids, the Celtic priests of Britain and Gaul, believed that the area where Chartres was located, was a place of energy emanated from the earth.
They held sacred rites in forests and underground grottoes that once lay at Chartres. One day, an angel appeared and gave a message to the Druid priests that a Virgin would give birth to a "radiation of divine quality and power that affects the life of man." (M. L. Charpentier, Les Mystéres de la Cathédrale de Chartres), a God, Jesus Christ.
And the Druids made this statue before the birth of Jesus because it was prophesied to them.
Another old legend says that Roman soldiers attacked early Christians at the virgin shrine and threw them into the well. They became the first Christian martyrs at Chartres.
The well can still be found in the crypt of the cathedral, along with walls from the same period of time.
A visitor can watch and admire over 150 magnificent windows of stained-glass mostly representing legendary and evangelical scenes like the Assumption, the temptation of Christ, the Last Judgement, the Coronation of the Virgin, Moses and the burning bush. But the visitor does not only observe...
Each and every person has a feeling of being observed inside the Cathedral by numerous tall, thin figures of saints, prophets and apostles; statues of queens and kings from the past. These enigmatic, motionless yet still "living" statues were sculptured by the most skilled craftsmen. Especially their faces are very much alive... while gazing down on the visitors.
Perhaps they wonder: "Do we, modern humans, ever know the true story of Chartres.
First version of this article was originally published on December 13, 2014
Written by – A. Sutherland - AncientPages.com Senior Staff Writer
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