Since the dawn of humanity, men have dedicated their most beautiful temple to the sun and its divine light. This creative madness reached its peak in the Middle Ages with the Gothic cathedrals and their incredible architecture of stone and glass lacework. In 150 years, the builders of cathedrals cut, sculpted and piled up more stones than the Egyptians in 1000 years. Here are the secrets of this extraordinary human and architectural adventure. An era of all possibilities, made of competitions, innovations, intrigues, power struggles and drama. An era which left us the most beautiful masterpieces of all of Christianity.
On the first day of the 12th century, a new church with revolutionary architecture Was built in Saint-Denis. When people discover Saint-Denis, they don't believe their eyes. There is something of amazement. With its incredible dimensions, the Gothic cathedral was born. The goal of Gothic architecture is to build big and build bright. We arrive at one of the peaks of gigantism in the proportions of the Church. All the bishops of the Kingdom of France want their cathedral in the same style as Saint-Denis. An incredible race for the record then begins. From the beginning the goal of all
bishops is to do better than his predecessor. There is therefore a form of obsession, sometimes, in wanting to succeed in completing the cathedral. Higher, more voluminous, brighter, each building is an unprecedented technological challenge. We have the sign of a very experienced, very innovative builder. With behind each project, people with unique know-how. Master Verrier is a luminary, a star today, highly sought after. Able to push the limits of physics. An area of 7,700 square meters, 200,000 cubic meters in volume, making it the largest and most extensive cathedral built in the Middle Ages. But who, sometimes, must
bow to the forces of nature. Here, you have to imagine that you have 150 meters of falling arrows and stones, which collapses straight down. It seems like a punishment, almost like a curse. Have we not sinned through pride? Pride, ambition, the fact remains that 81 Gothic cathedrals will be built in a century and a half. Radiant, imposing, fascinating, they are witnesses to the genius of men. Seven of these monuments, including Amiens, Chartres and Strasbourg, are particularly emblematic of this formidable record race during which bishops and their architects will compete in ingenuity to build the tallest,
Most spacious and brightest cathedral of all. the temperature. Here is the secret history of these buildings which, in the Middle Ages, overturned the rules of architecture and transformed the heart of our cities. The race for records It is June 11, 1144, about ten kilometers north of Paris, in Saint-Denis. Over the centuries, the powerful Abbey established itself as the religious epicenter of the Kingdom of France. At its head, Abbot Suger, close advisor to King Louis VII and emeritus diplomat, this ecclesiastic has considerable power and influence. That day, Louis VII himself traveled to Saint-Denis in the company
of his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine. The sovereign came to witness the consecration of the flamboyant basilica, the result of a gigantic project undertaken nine years earlier by Abbot Suger. The event is considerable. It is a turning point in the history of cathedrals. On June 11, 1144, the day of the consecration of the apse of the abbey of Saint-Denis, there were around 20 archbishops and bishops from all over France and England who were invited. They discover this exceptional monument, a completely innovative architecture. When people discover Saint-Denis, they don't believe their eyes, Quite simply because in previous
centuries they were used to seeing extremely intimate buildings, religious buildings in which everything was focused inward. And there, they discover an entire building dedicated to light. And that day, King Louis VII, accompanied by Eleanor of Aquitaine, these characters took the relics of Saint-Denis and carried them into the Chevet in a great procession. And there, we know, from Suger's texts, that there are a lot of people there, that there is a considerable crowd and that it is even repelled by the king's police. A crowd captivated by this new architecture, directly inspired by the heavenly Jerusalem described
in the Bible. This building of phenomenal dimensions Which seems to defy the laws of gravity, Suger has dreamed of it all his life. For the first time in the history of humanity, builders have achieved the feat of making monumental openings in the walls in order to attach sumptuous stained glass windows which finally allow light to penetrate. There is something of amazement. That is to say, Suger succeeded in doing what he wanted. That is to say that we are a church in which the lumen, that is to say the physical light, coincides with the lux, the
spiritual light. For the first time we have the feeling that the religious building becomes a real theater, the theater of an expression of all that is beautiful. A true gem, a hitherto unknown architectural and artistic feat. Saint-Denis is the first manifesto of this new art that centuries later would be called Gothic. The basilica breaks the old codes of Romanesque architecture with thick walls and tiny openings. A performance made possible thanks to the simultaneous use of two revolutionary innovations, already present in certain Romanesque churches , but which this new art will sublimate. The first of these
is the Ogive crossing, a technique that Father Suger discovered doing a few years earlier during a trip. In the years 1223, 1224, he visited Italy. He discovered Monte Cassino and was fascinated by this new architecture and in particular the use of the Ogive crossing, which is a new technique which allows, thanks to arches which cross under the vault, to distribute a little more the weight of the vault on the walls. This makes it possible on the one hand to completely lighten the mass of the load-bearing walls, on the other hand, to even make them disappear
and bring in light from all four sides. This division of the load relieves the walls so much that they can be replaced by simple pillars. Outside, these same pillars are supported by a second major technical innovation: the flying buttress, Which replaces the massive buttresses of the past. These are stone arches which support the walls, in a way, which absorb the thrust of the vaults which therefore rise higher and higher. To be able to climb higher, to be able to vault wider, we also need to be able to contribute much more strongly. For this, the invention
of flying buttresses which makes it possible to better counter the thrust of the vaults while moving the supports much further. And thanks to these stone arches, the surface of the walls is replaced by glass. Open the walls to the light to open the hearts to the creative light. That's completely revolutionary. But that assumed that this thought was also served by new technical knowledge. New knowledge that leads to a breathtaking result. Saint Denis is a fantastic vessel of light made of stone lace, 29 meters high, 108 meters long and 39 meters wide, for the greater glory
of God. Well, not only that, because at the time, churches had another, less avowed function, bearing witness to the omnipotence of the clergy. Also, when the high authorities Ecclesiastics attended the consecration of Saint-Denis on June 11, 1144. They were convinced that this majestic building was the perfect symbol of their power. All the bishops present begin to dream of building their own divine palace. A palace worthy of their rank, That is to say necessarily even more extraordinary than all the previous ones. The following year, the first to embark on this incredible race to excess was Baudoin
II, bishop of Noyon, a town in the Oise located a hundred kilometers north of Paris. Baudoin, at that time, was a friend of Suger. With him, he undoubtedly shares this idea of building larger and larger, more and more beautiful buildings . Despite his friendship for Suger, Baldwin II was not only captivated by the discovery of the Saint-Denis basilica, he experienced this consecration as a personal affront for a man of his rank. The bishop of Noyon is a count bishop. He exercises lordship over the city in the name of the king, the bishops of Noyon, at
the end of the 12th century, found themselves among the twelve fathers of France who truly constitute the quintessence of the great vassals. Until the inauguration of Saint-Denis, it was the cathedral of Noyon which was a reference throughout the kingdom. For Baudoin II, it is inconceivable that his city would be relegated to second place by the achievement of Abbot Suger, however magnificent it may be. We must restore Noyon's identity and finally, provide this renewed diocese, so to speak, with a new seat, this new cathedral. Suger has already done it in Saint-Denis. So Baldwin II, here, will
try to do the same thing, but better. But the Bishop of Noyon has a major problem. He has already spent considerable sums to restore his Carolingian cathedral, devastated by a terrible fire 15 years earlier. Noyon Cathedral was a cathedral that had already been rebuilt in the Carolingian era. It was destroyed by fire in 131. It was a scourge of medieval towns which, we have not forgotten, were built with half-timbered houses. And the churches are often still Carolingian churches which were framed, which were not vaulted in stone. So, all this heritage is extremely fragile. With the
first barely restored, how can we persuade the faithful that the construction of a new cathedral is necessary? The bishopric of Noyon may be rich and prosperous, but Baudoin II cannot raise new taxes without taking the risk of ruining it, or even provoking a popular uprising. He must therefore convince the inhabitants of Noyonnais that a new cathedral, even more prodigious than the Saint-Denis basilica, would constitute a fabulous economic asset for the city and its surroundings. Creating a cathedral in the heart of the city makes it possible to develop a life around this cathedral. This involves a
lot of visitors, a lot of pilgrims. And so this means a very significant economic return for the local population. And that's why at the time, We had a lot of markets which were established in a tradition that we still find today in the town of Noyon. Baudoin 2 was persuasive. The population agrees to pay taxes to finance a new cathedral. The bishop can finally begin the plans of the building. In his desire to surpass Saint-Denis, he thinks big, very big. Under the compass of its architects, its ambition knows no limits. The project will be much
more than a simple restoration. We could, as was the case elsewhere, perhaps keep part of the cathedral. No, here, the entire cathedral will be demolished in favor of a new Gothic monument. Basically, Baudoin II and his chief architect did not choose to innovate. Like all those that will see the light of day in the century to come, their future cathedral will respect the traditional plan of Romanesque churches. The most common plan for cathedrals is what is called the Latin cross, with a choir, a projecting transept, a nave with a more or less developed facade which
allows the cathedral to have the shape of the cross of Christ. With rare exceptions, this basic plan will therefore be the same for all future cathedrals, whatever their dimensions. The Latin cross must be perfectly visible from the sky in homage to Christ. Even the orientation of buildings obeys Strict rules from which Noyon will not escape. Most churches are oriented. And this orientation is fundamental to understanding all the symbolism of the building. We start from the west, the entrance, the western massif, therefore the setting sun, the end of the world, the end of the day. And
we're going to go back from west to east, that is to say from the end to the beginning. It is therefore on the form that Baudoin 2 intends to mark its difference. The shape or more precisely, the dimensions of its new cathedral. Baudoin 2 wants to surpass the construction of Saint-Denis at all costs. And that's why here, at Noyon Cathedral, the objective will be for the vault to exceed 20 meters high. In fact, the vault of the future cathedral will have to be precisely 22 meters high, that is to say 2 meters more than in
Saint-Denis. A colossal gap for the time and above all, a leap into the unknown for the builders. At the time of the creation of these great cathedrals, we functioned both through reflection, through calculation, but also in a somewhat sensitive and empirical manner. At a certain point, we don't know. We don't know how much risk we can take. However, the two 2 meters more in height required by Bishop Baudoin II for his cathedral to exceed the Saint-Denis basilica translate into thousands of cubic meters of additional stone. The smallest miscalculation, and it’s a disaster. Wanting to gain
two more meters is a feat, we take the risk of collapse. The project manager can count on the Ogive crossing and the flying buttresses, but he decides to go even further. What is new in Noyon is that from the start, the construction of this cathedral is planned in a global, anticipated and planned manner. And this is materialized by the implementation of this sandstone foundation on the entire building. From now on, it is from below that the cathedral can also be consolidated and reinforced. The architects experimented with a new technique to lay the foundations of the
church. They created a huge sandstone sole. This foundation bears witness to a design previously made to support very large weights according to a plan which was drawn in advance. We have the sign of very experienced, very innovative builders. To construct this slab, considerable quantities of sandstone are required. Until now, most churches were built in the immediate vicinity of local quarries which were sufficient to supply the building sites. It was a sine qua non condition. But for a building as disproportionate as that of Noyon, everything is complicated. To build a cathedral of this Size, as you
can imagine, you need an immeasurable number of stones. So, the cut stones for Noyon Cathedral come from several quarries in the surrounding area. One of the main difficulties of the site is the delivery of materials. A difficulty certainly underestimated by the project manager. Here too, you have to show imagination. Transporting this stone, as we can imagine, was an immense job. The stone was cut on site into huge blocks which could weigh up to three tonnes. And so, it was sometimes necessary to widen them to adapt them, we will say, to the size of the statue
that will be sculpted on site. And so all these blocks were brought back Here using carts of pulling animals. And so, they were sculpted in the construction site all around the cathedral. Although this organization seems effective, it is not without its drawbacks. The choice of quarries is decisive for the speed of the construction site and especially the cost of the construction site. The further away the quarry is, the more time it will take and the more expensive it will be. So expensive that from the end of 1146, two years after his discovery of the new
Saint-Denis basilica, the bishop of Noyon feared never seeing the end of the construction of his new cathedral. Lack of sufficient resources to cover such expenses. Unthinkable for anyone who considers that this project will be his life's work. Whatever it costs, His monument will have to crush Saint-Denis with its splendor and relegate it to the background. Fortunately, Baldwin II has a providential solution to remedy the problem. One of the possible ways to find new funding is to ensure a large contribution of the faithful, as they said at the time, to make this church a place of
pilgrimage, because who says pilgrimage, says offering. But to attract such generous pilgrims, there is a golden rule. To do this, it is necessary to highlight a powerful saint who can be an effective intercessor. Noyon just happens to have the remains of one of these powerful saints. This is the most famous minister of King Agobert. Baudoin 2 is that there is an immense Asset to the bishopric of Noyon, the relics of Saint-Eloi. By the power of God, he was able to make the lame walk, the blind see, the deaf hear, the dumb speak. It is around
this relic that the bishop, like a bishop like Baudoin II, can justify his prestige, his authority. To somehow honor Saint-Eloi, who is his distant predecessor, is to show that he is a continuation of this great historical character. Problem: the relics of Saint-Eloi are not highlighted. Baldwin II took care to remedy this so that the faithful would come in greater numbers and from much further afield to glorify them. In the space of a few months, the new reliquary of Saint-Éloi Became the treasure of Noyon Cathedral. A treasure that we readily exhibit well beyond the borders of
the bishopric. We must also imagine that the relics left the cathedral to make processions in the surrounding countryside, in order to collect more money to continue the work of the cathedral. This unprecedented exhibition of the Saint's relics is a total success. Reassured, Baudoin II can once again cherish the hope of one day witnessing the completion of his cathedral. With this additional money, work on the cathedral will be able to speed up. The construction site is even progressing twice as fast. In a few weeks, The teams doubled, from 120 workers to more than 250. As the
cathedral begins to rise above the city, the episcopal quarter is on the verge of completion, because renovating a cathedral , it also means creating all the surrounding arrangements. There where the lives of the high dignitaries of the diocese, called the chanoanes, are organized. The Chanoanes who lived in community next to the cathedrals will have new monastic buildings. You have here, for example, at the very back, the large monumental fireplace, it was the kitchen and on this side, the refectory which was a real living space. But the years pass and hope fades. The pace of work
is frantic, and yet the site drags on. To the great despair of the Bishop of Noyon, who no longer hides his impatience, for good reason. If the new cathedral is not consecrated during his lifetime, it is his successor who will benefit. A prospect that is unbearable for him. Baudoin II is a complex personality. Of course, he is a man of God, but he has his personal pride. He has reached fifty, he wants to go quickly. He wants to see this building glorified during his lifetime, so as to leave a mark in people's minds. The project
manager, the one who physically built The cathedral, does not leave his memorial trace, except in the contracts, if not in the world of master masons. But in the city, it is the bishop who leaves his memory on the cathedral. There is therefore a form of obsession, sometimes, in wanting to succeed in completing the cathedral. For Baldwin II, things are clear. Noyon Cathedral must be his. He then redoubled the pressure on his army of masons, but nothing worked. In 1068, the big drone which announces terrible news resonates. We are 22 years after the start of the
work and illness has just taken away Baudoin II, who dies without having seen this nave which he wanted higher than that of Saint-Denis. But the legacy of Baudoin 2, his madness of grandeur, is a burden for his successors. They continue to encounter the inevitable hazards of a project of this magnitude. Noyon was particularly hit by a succession of fires and fatal accidents which considerably slowed down the work. Each time, we have to replace highly qualified workers, who are therefore difficult to find. What we know is that they were very sought after, very coveted from one
site to another, we tried to attract them. And to attract them, we also had to make ourselves attractive and respond to some of their requests. Their requests being mainly linked to a certain relative comfort of life, the living conditions, the housing conditions, the security conditions were up to their demands. In the upper echelons of the clergy, people are wondering who will be lucky enough to see this cathedral finally finished. After his disappearance, several bishops will succeed one another. Noyon Cathedral will be completed only 60 years later. 60 years after the death of Baudoin II. Because
in reality, it was a project lasting more than 85 years which ended when the building was finally consecrated in 1231. It is the harsh law of these splendid monuments of stone and light. The time of cathedrals is not the same as that of men. Few bishops will succeed in inaugurating the temple of their dreams themselves , as Father Suger managed to do in Saint-Denis. Most builders know that they will never see the end of the work. Building a cathedral takes at least 30 years for the fastest constructions. In Noyon, it was more like 80 years,
that is to say at least three generations of men. If Baudoin 2 had been able to see the completion of his great work, the result would undoubtedly have delighted him. To gain the famous meters which would allow Noyon Cathedral to exceed the height of the Saint-Denis basilica, the architects had to redouble Their ingenuity by perfecting in particular the principle of the Ogive crossing. Noyon Cathedral resides on the nave, on the vaults of the nave. We have an alternation here of strong pile and weak pile which, normally, calls for a quadripartite vault. And in Noyon, we
have a vault, this sexpartite vault. At Noyon, the additional arch of a sexpartite vault is placed outside the Ogive crossing. But in other cathedrals, it passes right through the heart of this crossing. In both cases, it rests on a less massive pillar which is called weak pile. The strong piers support the pointed arches of the vaults at the four corners and the weak piers are responsible for supporting the intermediate arch. The weight of the immense vault is thus distributed over six pillars in each location. A remarkable performance which allows gigantic openings to let in light.
With this new achievement on four levels, from the large arcades to the upper bays, including the intermediate stands, the foundations of Gothic art are definitively laid. Thanks to him, cathedrals are increasingly taller, more and more slender and more and more luminous. And the prospects it offers for building ever larger and more sophisticated structures are almost endless. We have five radiating chapels all around the heart of the cathedral which are each made up of two windows, two lancets which overlook the outside, on a system of column buttresses Which is quite visible when you go around the
apse of the cathedral. the Cathedral This principle of column buttress is also associated with the very first flying buttresses. When setting up, building these flying buttresses, we made the choice to keep column buttresses, kinds of pilasters, therefore engaged columns which came to support, reinforce the support of the flying buttress. It adds a very interesting aesthetic role , but we got rid of it later. We realized that it was of no use. In 1231, the inauguration of this masterpiece was naturally a major event in the history of Noyon. A procession forms around the grave of Bishop
Baudoin II, who died 60 years earlier. Clergy, city dweller and of course construction worker, everyone wants to pay tribute to this visionary who made the city proud. Thanks to him, the cathedral of Noyon, once dethroned by Saint-Denis, regained its place at the head of the high places of Christianity. But the competition is tough. The splendid Saint-Denis basilica has been emulated throughout the kingdom of France. Many bishops also want their Gothic cathedral. Among them, Gautier-de-Mortagne, the bishop of Laon, a town located about fifty kilometers further east in Aisne. Gautier de Mortagne decided to embark on the
adventure in 1155, only 10 years after the launch of work in Noyon. But he must face the same obstacle as Baldwin II before him: Laon already has a cathedral. Gautier de Mortagne, bishop of Laon, finds himself faced with a problem that deeply distresses him. This is because Laon has naturally magnificent architecture , but in a Romanesque style. And there, he will naturally want to create A building which is, one could say, up to standard in relation to the taste of the moment. As in Noyon, how can we convince the population to finance a new building?
Simply because fashion has changed in terms of architecture. This time, the bishop's powers of persuasion may not be enough. In Noyon, the decision to rebuild the church followed a fire. In Laon, the situation is different. Laon is flambe at work. So, how can we justify the reconstruction of a building that is new. Especially since here, the delivery of the necessary materials promises to be even more expensive than in Noyon. Because the city of Laon is built on a fairly high natural promontory. A formidable obstacle for the millions Of cubic meters of stone that will have
to be transported to the site. Transporting the stones and their delivery to the site certainly represents the most considerable effort of the company which mobilizes many men, many animals and a lot of money. Finally, to make matters worse, the bishopric of Laon does not have a relic as famous as that of Saint-Éloi to attract pilgrims. Gautier de Mortagne must therefore find another stratagem to convince the population to follow him and financially support his project. His idea: to play on the superstition of his contemporaries by suggesting that their cathedral is perhaps cursed. During the Romanesque period,
this cathedral suffered greatly of things, in particular lightning, fire, devastation of the building. And it is also marked by a murder followed again by a fire, a terrible murder. It is a cathedral which is truly marked by these events. This murder occurred 40 years earlier, in April 1112. At the time, the people of Laon had been living for years under the authority of a greedy and cruel bishop, Monseigneur Godry. Godry did not hesitate to have an emissary of the king who had dared to stand up to him assassinated in the middle of the cathedral. Furious,
the population ended up revolting against the powerful man of the Church. Bishop Godry is dragged here, in this alley, by a group of Laonois Who will attack him, who will beat him and then, in anger, they will smash his head with great blows of a double axe. Forty years after the events, this assassination in the middle of the cathedral, followed by the lynching of a bishop, is still remembered. It is an indelible stain, a trauma that must be repaired at all costs. Godry's successor, Gautier de Mortagne, knows that he has a weighty argument here. If
the population agrees to finance a new cathedral, it will in some way erase this heinous crime perpetrated 40 years earlier. And the ploy works. To sweep away the remaining reluctance, the Bishop of Laon himself sets an example by publicly committing his personal fortune. From the cathedral. Gautier-de-Mortagne decides to donate 21 pounds per year for the work of the cathedral. It was enormous for the time and he decided to leave 100 pounds in case he died before the work was completed. It is quite rare for a bishop to put his personal money into the construction of
a cathedral. And Gautier de Mortagne, by having had the desire for this new cathedral, by giving money, shows that it must be completed as he wanted it. We are at the beginning of the year 1155. Ten years after the launch of the construction site Of the cathedral of Noyon, that of Laon begins in turn. But while Noyon continues to fall behind, Laon is progressing at high speed, under the inquisitive gaze of Gautier de Mortagne. We also know that he was very careful to monitor the construction site. He is very invested in this company and is
someone who follows the business very closely. If Gautier-de-Mortagne invests so much, it is because he does not want to be content with building a new cathedral inspired by the model of Saint-Denis or Noyon. His ambition is to sublimate this new Gothic art. All of Christendom will have to envy his masterpiece. While Saint-Denis has only one tower, compared to two for Noyon, Laon has no less than five, the highest of which rises to 100 meters. And this is not the only record she has broken. Its nave also exceeds that of Noyon with a vault perched 24
meters above the ground. The period of construction of the cathedral is truly a pivotal period between Romanesque and Gothic. We can also see this in the building by the number of floors in the nave. We are here on a four-section elevation, with the large arcades first. Then, on the second floor, we have the gallery, then the triforium, and finally the high windows. So, what is really very important in the building is this grandstand floor, which is really a shoulder floor. We often have walls or hidden arches which act as shoulders. So, this constitutes shoulder stages
Which aim to contain the thrust of the jousts. Unlike its competitor Baudoin 2, Gautier-de-Mortagne will have the chance to inaugurate his cathedral himself in 1164, in front of the Pope and all the nobility of France. A new building, taller, larger, brighter, a true masterpiece of Christianity. The France of cathedrals is launched in a frantic race where records for vault height, tower height, nave volume and surface area devoted to stained glass windows fall one after the other. And this race is only made possible by the skill and knowledge of ingenious and visionary builders. They are capable
of performing real miracles to satisfy the fantasies of bishops in search of recognition and glory. These men who designed the cathedrals remained men in the shadows, except in Strasbourg, where a man named Erwin von Steinbach left his mark. Erwin is the main architect of the cathedral. He is an exceptional character in his conception of architecture. Thanks to him, we can better understand what a project of this magnitude was. With its hundreds of workers, its corporations, but also its tons of stones that had to be cut, sculpted and erected, sometimes tens of meters high. Impossible projects
for the time. And yet. Because Master Erwin, as he is nicknamed, has decided that Strasbourg Cathedral will be the tallest in Europe . For this, the spire will have to rise to more than 140 meters. Unimaginable, even at the end of the 13th century. As project manager, his responsibility is enormous. We can say that the project manager is the conductor of the cathedral construction site. Initially, he composes the score, he is the one who draws the plan. He chooses his instruments, the different trades. And he also chooses the way in which the work will be
interpreted with the second work, the sculpture, the stained glass, the carpentry, the locksmithing, Everything which, ultimately, makes the particularity and flavor of the building. He goes down to the smallest detail. Erwin von Steinbach does not want to just break a record. He also wanted to imprint on Strasbourg Cathedral his vision of a finer, more elegant architecture. Its particularity is the decor on the facade. It is still the masterpiece of the cathedral, it is its portals and the lightness of this facade. Mainly, he is recognized for that, for having brought a lightness to Gothic construction. To
top it off, Master Erwin has in mind to place an imposing rose window above the entrance gate. The very one which, even today, is considered a masterpiece of Gothic art. Thanks to Erwin, Strasbourg became a major center of Gothic art in the Rhine valley. For Master Erwin, everything starts with a plan. The creation of the arches, the creation of the roses, the frame of the windows go through diagrams, through drawings which are executed with great precision thanks to compasses, thanks to mastered geometric formulas which show the great intelligence of execution, since design through to completion.
In the stonemason's lodge, you can draw flat on a shape in sand or mortar using a compass, a square, or a ruler. With an iron tip, we draw a small representation of what we want to build in reality. This allows us to imagine the profiles, the dimensions and also, precisely, the problems that will arise once on the job. And the problems are numerous for Master Erwin, who manages a colossal project. A cathedral construction site is a religious world, but it is also a human world. A world where sometimes dozens, even hundreds of workers work on
the construction site . The construction site of a cathedral which is a real anthill, which is crowded with people, which is teeming everywhere, but in an organized bazaar. Each brotherhood, very likely, had its geographical sector. Brotherhoods which quickly felt the need to structure themselves. In the Middle Ages, different trade guilds were formed. Trade corporations which have an extremely important role, which we respect and which we pay accordingly. The people who will build the walls, the stonemasons, the master glassmakers who will paint and install the stained glass windows, the plumbers who will install the roofs, the
carpenters, an absolutely enormous crowd of specialized workers. Among these workers, we find in particular very qualified craftsmen who travel from site to site to offer their service. These are the companions. We know that the journeymen who worked in these different trades gradually became organized and very well organized. These workers are the best in their discipline. Within their corporation, they transmit their knowledge in the greatest secrecy. This allows them to negotiate their work at a high price. We must pay the workers and pay them well, because they are competent workers. These highly specialized workers had a
real awareness of their values and knew how to sell themselves well. Competent and smart. Even those who can't read or write know how to get paid well, no matter what. This is for example the case of stonecutters who have long since figured out how to ensure that the canons' registers are properly kept up to date. Each tailor has its mark, geometric features. These are very important benchmarks for understanding the quantity of stones worked per day or per period. The concise marks, finally, serve to know who worked for this, that or that stone in order to
pay, to remunerate the workers according to the work that he actually carried out each day. If Erwin wants to offer their service, he has no choice. He must pay. Master Erwin, in particular, had to face additional costs, the rise in the cost of living, the increase in salaries. An increase in presentation which does not suit Master Erwin in charge of the site's finances. He must ensure that the deadlines and budget that were negotiated with the canons are respected. If there is an accident, a delay, the whole machine stops. And we can clearly see that very
specific contracts have been signed elsewhere to deliver the materials on time. But the least we can say Is that fate has taken its toll on the Strasbourg cathedral construction site. The year is 1298. Master Erwin is contemplating the plans for his rose window, the installation of which is imminent when he learns terrible news. A cart carrying materials has just had an accident. Accidents are numerous, since these machines, which sometimes carry loads exceeding a ton, are extremely fragile. And as soon as there is chaos, the risk is that the whole cart will fall apart. These accidents
owe nothing to chance. The infernal speeds imposed by the needs of the site multiply the risks. But above all, Strasbourg carriers must face a thorny problem. It is obvious that in the Middle Ages, the roads, those which supplied the large cities, were roads in perfect condition. The lords and the king charge quite a lot for their upkeep. So, to avoid paying all these taxes, many carriers prefer to take circuitous routes, which are much more chaotic and dangerous. These accidents considerably slow down the pace of the construction site and are expensive, very expensive. And they are
not the only ones who disturb Master Erwin’s serenity. The fact that dozens of people work on top of each other Poses an obvious safety problem in terms of the risk of falls, people falling, falling stones, falling materials. With each tragedy, the project manager and the diocese are contacted. Accidents are part of construction site life, but they have a double financial impact. There is of course that of the delays which they imply, but at the end of the 13th century, another source of expenses is added to an already endless list. There is also a social dimension
on construction sites since there is a system that is a bit of a precursor to insurance with foresight. In the event that a worker dies on the construction site, well, sometimes, we will have a sum, an indemnity which will be paid to the Widow, increasing according to the number of children. These compensations are not the only advantages that workers benefit from. There are others that the project manager would happily do without. The second constraint is that there are approximately 160 non-working days per year, days of religious holidays where it is a mortal sin to work.
In 1298, Master Erwin fought day and night to overcome all the obstacles that slowed down the completion of his masterpiece. Since he took charge of the site four years earlier, this outstanding engineer has developed treasures of ingenuity which have largely contributed to his legend. In particular, he improved lifting equipment that was already very sophisticated at the time. Architects are faced with the challenge of height. The pass vaults of 16 meters, 22, 24, 35, 38, 43, 48 meters high. How to transport the necessary materials to such heights? Often, our contemporaries wonder how we did it. They
imagine completely crazy ideas like inclined earthen planes which would be raised to the height of the vaults. No. To mount a very heavy block of winter stone, weighing 150 or 200 kilos, to the top of the cathedral, it requires putting in place magnets which are real wooden cathedrals. We need to operate in stages. So we have the scaffolding level by level. And this is where we resort to these systems of large wheels which already existed in Roman times, but which were perfected in medieval times. These systems have been rediscovered and reinvented. It's a kind of
renaissance, a rebirth of technique in the Gothic era. Two of these Ferris wheels are still visible in Strasbourg, perched several dozen meters high. Rare testimonies of the ingenuity of the cathedral builders. Here are two squirrel wheels which are the old lifting systems from the Middle Ages. Two twin wheels, in fact. And these wheels are equipped with a wooden base, so that the feet can hang on the wheel. One person in each wheel, one horizontal axis to wind the rope. And there, it was enough to walk quietly, very slowly. And with the inertia of the wheel,
it wraps the rope around the axle. And we can lift much larger loads up to a ton. It’s really designed for that. These are truly the winches of the Middle Thanks to this ingenious system, even a child can lift several hundred kilos of stones in just a few hours. Once these very heavy blocks have been allowed to reach the upper level of the site, on site. You have to be able to move it along the entire length, sometimes of the nave. For this we use a suspended slide system along a sort of rail, which was
made of wood at the time, and a wheel which slides along this beam. These systems have the added advantage of allowing workers to work in complete safety, well sheltered from wind and bad weather. A A significant passage when operating several tens of meters from the ground where gusts can be fatal. This explains the presence of several orifices scattered throughout the cathedral. This is where the materials passed, connected at the top by a rope and pulley. Pulleys which are directly above Oculus, these openings, We will find them on each vault, over the entire height of the
cathedral. So, this makes it possible to lift the loads through these large oculus which are the keystones of each level. All these technical advances, above all, save time in construction. Standardization, prefabrication, all of this makes it possible to build much faster and much more efficiently. But this formidable piece of machinery unfortunately does not only have advantages. It forces architects to use enormous quantities of another essential material on the construction site of a cathedral: wood. We must not forget that to build cathedrals, we needed many other materials: iron, but also a lot of wood. Wood, not
only to build the frames, but also to build the scaffolding, to build the supports for the vaults. With the machinery, all these structures consume so much wood that the forests of Alsace will be disfigured throughout the duration of construction. But the most important thing is not there. This wood is stored, then assembled in places that are often very difficult to access in the heights of the building. At the slightest spark, such storage represents a formidable fuel ready to go up in smoke in just a few hours. When a fire breaks out, You must immediately try
to put it out, otherwise the structure itself is in danger. A fire on a construction site is always a disaster which generally destroys large parts of the building. And this is exactly what will happen in Strasbourg, at the precise moment when Master Erwin regains the hope of seeing his cathedral completed during his lifetime. We are in the summer of 1298. A hot and stormy summer as is often the case in this steep region. At nightfall, lightning starts to strike almost everywhere, favoring the tallest architectural elements. However, the cathedral is obviously not Equipped with a lightning
rod which was not invented until the 18th century. Suddenly, lightning strikes a scaffolding overlooking the nave. The fire started immediately, but it was dark. The construction site is deserted. No one realizes the drama that has just played out. It’s desolate, especially the day after the fire. It takes years to rebuild structures that were damaged by the flames. It is a death test. It is a passage through annihilation. Clearly, Master Erwin is seriously lacking in luck. Accumulation of delays, explosion of blows, Repeated fatal accidents and now devastating fire. In just four years, he will have faced
everything. The brilliant inventor nevertheless fought to the end and died 30 years after this tragedy, at the age of 74, without having seen the spire of his cathedral pierce the sky. And the frustration, for most project owners, is that they will never see the end of it. Proof that the fight was lost in advance. It was not until 1439, more than two centuries after the start of the work, that the project ended with the completion of this famous spire. 142 meters high, or 56 meters higher than the largest tower of Saint-Denis, this spire will make
Strasbourg Cathedral The tallest monument in the world until the end of the 19th century. If the Strasbourg construction site was one of the longest in the history of cathedrals, that of Chartres, on the other hand, broke all speed records thanks to the Machiavellianism of its bishop. The year is 1194, in Chartres. As in Noyon or Laon, it all began with a terrible fire. There is a real question surrounding this fire which broke out in 1194, in the old Fulbert cathedral. Were things prepared? Maybe a premeditated fire? It's more than likely. This time, the culprit is
Renaud de Bar. It was he, the Bishop of Chartres, who certainly ordered the crime. The man is ambitious and is not the type to bother with moods to achieve his goals. However, he too wants a divine palace worthy of his rank. In any case, Chartres could not imagine keeping an old cathedral in this Gothic France where everything now radiated, where everything went towards the sky. This city, which was a great sanctuary, could not remain behind these small cathedrals of Northern France which had captured the imagination. If history accuses Renaud de Bar of having burned the
old church, It is because the bishop clearly anticipated the catastrophe. The plans for the new building were already paid for and even completed when the disaster broke out. Several months earlier, the bishopric also ordered a considerable quantity of cut stones as well as a certain number of ornamental sculptures. Finally, the financing of the future project has also been anticipated. So everything is close. And Renaud de Bar doesn't even pretend to hesitate after the last flames have gone out. Work on the Gothic cathedral in Chartres began in July 1194, the day after the fire. That is
to say that the two towers of the Church are preserved. Little damaged by the flames, the western portal and the stained glass windows which overlook it, the crypt as well as the two towers of the old church are preserved. Thanks to the bishop's premeditation and his unparalleled organizational talents, the construction of the new cathedral broke all speed records. We have historical testimony to the fact that as early as 1220, the priests of the cathedral were under the completed choir vaults, the structural work would have been completed. Around 25 years of work, which is a dazzling
pace for the construction of a large cathedral. Chartres is therefore an exception. An exception which arouses the admiration of other builders who sometimes have to struggle for more than a century to balance their budget and complete their project. In Chartres, everything is different. Renaud De Barre directs operations with an iron fist and takes steps one after the other. Among the building workers who were there when it came out of the ground, some saw their cathedral completed, finished, including all the architectural elements, the sculptures and the stained glass windows. For what ? Because first of all,
the financing is there, continuously, there is never a stop to the work And therefore, every spring-summer, a new team of project managers arrives to move forward a little further. the construction site. Beyond its phenomenal speed of execution, Chartres Cathedral shatters many other records. Among them, the incredible height of Sanèves, whose vault peaks at more than 37 meters high. This is 13 meters more than in Laon, completed almost 60 years earlier. In Chartres, the architects also succeeded in opening the walls even further to let divine light flood every other corner of the space. As the 12th
and 13th centuries passed, the walls of the cathedrals opened outwards. In Chartres, the phenomenon becomes obvious. 2,500 square meters of glass roofs, 4,000 characters express themselves. An infinite variety of colors and shapes. Now the wall has almost disappeared and there is plenty of light. It is the sun that enters the building. Below, the human space in which we evolve. Up there, the divine space which is illuminated in a more direct way, in which the incense rises and also the sound of prayer rises. The 172 multicolored bays of the cathedral are still considered today as an
unrivaled jewel of the Middle Ages. Here, master glassmakers have performed small miracles of chemistry to obtain unique colors of a quality much Higher than that found anywhere else at the same time. A stained glass window, in the 1200s, is a little gem of futuristic technology. To make these stained glass windows, it is sand molten at more than 1,200 degrees which makes it possible to develop the base material. In this material, oxides, metal, products found on the edge of mines and which will allow us to obtain a range of around ten colors. There was certainly a
magical side to them: blue powder to make red, red powder to make blue. The craftsmen first make large sheets of glass which are then cut out piece by piece like a mosaic. Piece of glass which are therefore Patiently cut and are glued to each other by a stitch thread. We can go into the detail of certain faces or certain pleats of clothing thanks to grisaille, a paint which is applied with a brush to the glass. Meticulous and therefore particularly expensive to create, this famous grisaille de Chartres makes it possible to obtain a fineness of detail
never before achieved. Even more than the breathtaking dimensions of its architecture, it is to these exceptional stained glass windows that Chartres Cathedral owes its worldwide fame. These stained glass windows, but also these countless ornamental sculptures which welcome the faithful as soon as they arrive on the square. Here, there is a veritable deluge of sculptures that we witness And which people in the Middle Ages insisted on. A summary of the whole of holy history in thousands of sculptures. Here, at the North Portal, there are already more than 1,000 characters who show us the prefigures, those who
announce Christ. The function of these statues is not only decorative. In the Middle Ages, the vast majority of the population could neither read nor write. Sculptures like stained glass windows are, in a way, comic strips of the time which attempt to describe the most significant scenes from the Bible. In Chartres, they are also used to publicly thank certain benefactors for this incredible achievement. And then also, several hundred craftsmen who are there at work, the donors of the stained glass windows, which we see in their shop. All these characters were painted with bright gold colors, red,
blue, green, even gold leaf, for certain details that we want to be more precious. All these characteristics make Chartres the ultimate culmination of what would later be called classical Gothic, which defined the transition between Romanesque and Gothic. Soon, builders will push even further the possibilities offered by the combined use of the Gives crossing and the Arc-Boutan to build cathedrals so high, so dazzling and so richly decorated that we will speak of radiant Gothic, then flamboyant. Two which in fact reflect the evolution of an architecture that is ever more slender, Bright and airy to draw closer
to God. To admire the perfect synthesis of this evolution, you have to go to Amiens in the heart of Picardy. There we find the cathedral of all superlatives. And it is once again to a man of the church with an inordinate ego that we owe this oversized masterpiece. Évrard de Fouilloy will have crazy ambition for his diocese. It is that of creating an even more majestic cathedral, much higher, much larger than all the others, of surpassing Chartres, of surpassing all the cathedrals which may have preceded those of Amiens. At the beginning of the 13th century,
The Crusades turned away from the Holy Land to conquer Constantinople with more promising economic opportunities. In the West, the Roman Church has never been more powerful. Its hegemony fits perfectly with the disproportionate ambition of these bishops who stop at nothing to glorify God and above all make history. However, in Amiens, Évrard de Fouilloy is at the head of one of the richest dioceses in France. We are in a context of prosperity. We brought back a lot of money, from the crusades with priceless relics. And this money will be used to build one of the most
beautiful buildings of Gothic art, drawing its economic wealth on the one hand from its strategic geographical position. To the north is Flanders, with its thriving cloth industry. And then, to the south, we will find Champagne, with its major fairs which will allow Amiens to be on this road, ultimately, to economic growth. Sheets made in Flanders and sold in Champagne pass through Amiens to be dyed there using the pigment of a plant called ouede and which will make the city's fortune for nearly four centuries. In the 13th century, economic prosperity allowed the city's bourgeoisie to enrich
themselves thanks to the trade in what we call blue gold here. So, Amiens is a land of plenty which produces this blue pigment which allows fabrics to be dyed and which will ensure great wealth for the inhabitants of the city. And obviously, this economic prosperity will be Favorable to the development of the construction site, since donations from the bourgeoisie will be able to contribute to the construction fund of the cathedral. When he discovered Chartres in 1220, Évrard de Fouilloy dreamed of engraving his name in the history of cathedrals for several years already. But he understands
that in Chartres, it took only a lightning project of barely 25 years to dethrone builders as prestigious as Abbot Suger in Saint-Denis, Baudoin II in Noyon or Gautier-de-Mortagne in Laon . The Bishop of Amiens will therefore have to set the bar much higher if he does not want to suffer the same fate and pass on to posterity. For this, Évrard de Fouilloy's ambition is clear. Its cathedral will not only be the tallest in France, it will also be the largest ever built. But building in the heart of a city poses a major problem. The initial
challenge for the bishop, even before having the first stone laid for the cathedral of Amiens, is to have the necessary land spaces to be able to construct this building over an area of 7,700 square meters. Whatever the constraint, Évrard de Fouilloy does not skimp on the means. The bishop will have to free up space around the cathedral, notably by moving a hotel-dieu. It was also an opportunity for him to move a parish church and finally to dismantle one of the city's Gallo-Roman ramparts. Once the space is made, work can begin. We are in 1220, the
year of the consecration of Chartres Cathedral. Architects have carte blanche To imagine a monument of dizzying proportions. No one should be able to do better and without any budgetary constraints, a first in the history of cathedrals. As a direct consequence of this madness of grandeur, the weight of the building reached unimaginable thresholds for the time. The risks of seeing it crash under its own mass are considerable. Hence the need to invent a completely new foundation system capable of supporting the whole. The foundations of Amiens Cathedral are much deeper than those of other previous Gothic cathedrals.
Here, we have between seven and nine meters of foundation. We must imagine that this cathedral, As majestic as it is, is only the visible part of the iceberg and that under the building, we will find 5 meters of pillars, followed by a 3 meter long bed of Mouet. depth. And all on an area of 7,700 square meters. So, you have to imagine the workload that this required before laying the first stone of the facade itself. These foundations must not only be strong, they must also be healthy. Because the location of the cathedral is quite close
to the Somme, whose banks are marshy on this portion of the river, and therefore very humid. If this humidity were to spread to the wall of the future cathedral, it would be a disaster. This is why we are going to build such deep and solid foundations which are a model of their kind, since you have a crawl space, in fact, under the cathedral. These pillars are not solid, which also allows air to pass under the building. The foundations completed, construction of the nave can begin. Évrard de Fouilloy demanded that it be able to accommodate at
least 10,000 faithful, something unheard of at the time. This new record requires being able to spread the walls considerably. With Amiens, we arrive at one of the peaks of gigantism in the proportions of the church. It must have, in some way, a much larger scale. But how can we achieve such a performance without causing the vault to collapse? The problem is that the first generation of flying buttresses don't go very high, ultimately, because they are simple. And to go higher, we must invent, finally, another flying buttress system. The solution was found on the construction site
of another cathedral. In Reims, the architects had the simple and brilliant idea of doubling the exterior flying buttresses to support ever more phenomenal loads. We invented the double-part flying buttress, therefore with a first flying buttress part And then a second which comes on top. It allows you to go higher. Thanks to the doubling of the exterior flying buttresses , the architects of Amiens have achieved new feats, to the point of giving the impression that the entire building is nothing more than a sumptuous glass palace. The goal of Gothic architecture is to build big and build
bright. So, we will try to finally thin out these walls, which are no longer load-bearing, to bring in as much light as possible. So today, this light is very white in Amiens, but in the past, it was colored. It was Amiens that the standards of radiant Gothic were developed. It's colossal, since the glass surfaces will overhang the stone surfaces, we see it for example with this fabulous northern rose, facing us, which develops tones of blue and red which will color the cathedral with this almost light. Divine. A divine light which no longer only illuminates the
nave as in previous cathedrals. Here, even the peripheral chapels benefit from this famous influence. This cathedral represents, for many art historians, the perfection of this art of construction, in particular because of the developments in the radiant architecture visible here in Amiens, and in particular this chapel. Radiant chapel, Ax chapel, dedicated to the Virgin, Which ultimately has more glass surface than full stone surface. We are here at the quintessence of this art of building, where light can fully enter the building and bathe the faithful in this divine light. The making of these extraordinary stained glass windows
is much more expensive than the cutting of the stones. Amiens is not only the largest cathedral in Christianity, it is also, by far, the most expensive of all time. If Évrard de Fouilloy did not live long enough to inaugurate his great work, when the project was completed in 1269, almost 50 years after the start of the work, he nevertheless succeeded in his bet. The whole world will remember him. This Amiens cathedral offers us totally crazy dimensions for the time. 42.30 meters height under vault. It is the tallest cathedral under the Nave, still today in France.
This cathedral measures 145 meters long, 70 meters wide at the level of its transept. It has an area of 7,700 square meters, but above all, it has 200,000 cubic meters in volume, which makes it the largest and most extensive cathedral built in the Middle Ages. And still today, the largest church in France. Figures that make you dizzy. And one image is enough to assess the gigantism of Amiens Cathedral. However, guides often say that in the cathedral of Amiens, to give you a small image, one could place volume 2 of Notre-Dame de Paris there. Imagine the
crazy bet that was made by Évrard de Fouilloy and his team. A crazy bet, but for what result? Amiens Cathedral is certainly the monument that comes closest to the mythical Heavenly Jerusalem of the Bible. This fabulous imaginary church which inspired Abbot Suger in Saint-Denis a century earlier. But by playing the sorcerer's apprentice, wanting to defy the laws of physics, constantly pushing the limits, builders must take more And more risks, even if it means paying a high price. We are about sixty kilometers from Amiens, in Beauvais, in the Oise. In 1225, when Bishop Milon of Nanteuil
launched the work, he obviously had a grandiose project in mind. He wanted to make Beauvais the most important cathedral ever built, but also to offer the greatest modernity and the most beautiful space possible to his domain. Milon de Nanteuil is therefore inhabited by the same pride as his peers. Like them, he dreams of leaving his name in history by building a monument that will surpass all others. But this pride will lead him to make increasingly imprudent choices. So when Milon, the bishop of Beauvais, undertook his cathedral, he undertook a totally oversized project with a cathedral
which would rise almost 100 meters. In Beauvais, we arrive at the limit of the technical possibility of the materials themselves. It is this first error which will undermine the rest of the work, because the foundations of the old Carolingian building cannot support such a weight. Already, we realize by comparing the earlier cathedral from the 11th century, here, and the great Gothic cathedral, the difference in scale that there is between the two. The laws of physics and geometry are formal. The new Gothic cathedral must in no case exceed 80 meters high. Beyond that, the pressures exerted
on the pillars will be much too great. But the Bishop of Beauvais doesn't want to know anything. He refuses to listen to these architects and forces them to push the limits of reasonableness ever further. For example, in 1250, 25 years after the start of work, Milo de Nanteuil learned that other cathedrals such as that of Strasbourg or Cologne also had ambitions of reaching 100 meters high. This prospect is unbearable for him. To be completely certain of surpassing them. The Bishop of Beauvais therefore decided to add a gigantic spire to his already oversized project. It will
have to culminate at 150 meters. And by wanting to go too far, too high, since it is the largest cathedral in the world, they will forget the fundamentals of construction, that is to say the relationships between the lower structure and the superstructures. And it is the obvious and inevitable source of a coming catastrophe. Milo de Nanteuil died in 1234, only nine years after the start of the work. But the damage is done. Construction is too far advanced to reverse course. His successor therefore continues the project on the basis of the initial plans. However, architects know
that these plans are dangerous, even deadly. Without major innovation, their cathedral will not stand for long. The lives of the faithful are at stake. And it is by massively resorting to a material hitherto barely visible in cathedrals that they hope to find the solution. The increase in proportions which grew at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries, led to the idea of introducing metallic elements into the construction of cathedrals from the outset, because metal made it possible to undergo deformations that the stone cannot withstand. For example, the window openings are fitted with networks of
stones so fine that the stone is almost no longer sufficient in itself. The master builder armed the stone with iron. Metal is extremely present on a cathedral construction site. We first see the stone, but the pinnacles, the pillars are truly armed. There are metal studs, there are metal staples on the most fragile elements. Lead covers the joints so they don't corrode. The idea of the Beauvais engineers is therefore to go even further by equipping their cathedral with an impressive iron sarcophagus which can still be seen outside the building. Beauvais Cathedral has used iron from the
very beginning of its construction. Here, we see in place the metal tie structures which surround the entire cathedral and create a sort of cage which connects the structures to each other. The architects even took precaution so far as to equip the interior of the monument with a similar metal straitjacket. There are metal clips which are inserted into the pointed arches. And we also find chains, part of which we see in the heart of the cathedral and in the framework. We can speak of a mesh, a metal frame which discreetly arms the cathedral. It's not visible,
but the stone is reinforced with metal. This formidable metal frame hugs the entire cathedral from length to width. From floor to ceiling, no pillar, no flying arch, nor even any vault, escapes the giant spider web imagined by these builders. Here, we see on the top of this wall an iron chaining device which continues into the masonry wall over there. Here, we also have an interesting device on the ring key of the choir roundabout which allows you to see the choir from the top. We also have large metal bars which are under this part of the
vaults and which have been dated from the Middle Ages. And so, we have proof that from the construction, they had chained and clad this cathedral with iron. Until then, no one had pushed security to this level of perfection. The builders seem to have found the solution to push the limits even further. And Beauvais, the great iron lady, can be triumphantly consecrated. This consecration took place in 1272, 47 years after the start of the work. Milon de Nanteuil won with his vault perched 48 meters above the ground, the equivalent of a 20-story building. Beauvais is more
imposing than all its rivals. She is promised to reign for centuries. But appearances are deceiving. The cathedral would only be a colossus with a foot of clay. To understand it, you have to go to the top of the nave. The cathedral being a very tall building, in fact, has a strong wind resistance. This problem was not taken into account sufficiently at the start, since we never climbed that high. The region is however known for these wind storms, with gusts capable of slapping stone walls at more than 130 km/h. We tend to think that large cathedrals
such as Beauvais Cathedral are solid, static, immutable buildings. However, these are buildings whose architecture and stone structure is relatively flexible and elastic. This is why in the upper part, so high and so attacked by the action of the wind, we had so much damage. A Friday in November 1284. A particularly violent storm hit the building head-on, just 12 years after its inauguration. The flexibility of the cathedral is put to the test. Until the gust too many. Here, we can clearly see the very, very flat shape in the shape of a sail, a stone sail which
faced the wind and which probably caused the collapse of 1284. There was therefore this strong hold on the wind and which was able to put into effect vibrate it at the top of the pile and unhook one of the flying buttresses. That day, a gust more violent than the others brutally carried away a southern pile of the southern flank. The distribution of forces exerted on the flying buttresses is immediately modified. A few minutes later, the entire building wobbles. What happened ? Obviously, a break between the flying buttress and the cornice led to the collapse of
the central vault of the choir and the large windows. This collapse therefore concerns one of the vaults here. You have to imagine that at the time, we had half as many batteries as we do today. We have three large bays in the choir, so a very airy system, but also probably fragile. Many believers were present at the time of the disaster. Everyone thought their cathedral was invulnerable. Which, they see, terrifies them. When Beauvais Cathedral collapsed, the people of Beauvais were stunned. Because it's not just a stone building that's collapsing, it's decades of work. It is
the investment of faith of an entire population who are convinced that through this building, God is present. So when the walls collapse, it is faith itself that is called into question. Building this tower and seeing it collapse can only refer to biblical images which are known: the Tower of Babel, the Tower of Siloea, all these great collapses of towers which are present in the Bible and which preachers convey often as divine punishment. It was a trauma. The temple was collapsing. Had we not tempted God or the devil, in this case? It seems like a punishment,
almost like a curse. Have we not sinned through pride? Miraculously, the collapse caused no casualties. But the event sounds like a warning and has a lasting impact on the collective imagination throughout Europe. For the first time since the inauguration of the Saint-Denis basilica, 140 years earlier, men wonder if they have not gone too far in their creative madness. In these conditions, should Beauvais be rebuilt, yes or no? After several years of hesitation, the then bishop decided, it was yes. It took 40 years to return to work. This collapse was attributed to the weakness of the
supports. All the great arcana have been halved. It was a huge job. Occasionally, we are talking about 80,000 tournament books for repairs. Part of the repairs following the first collapse. We are looking at figures of several tens of millions of euros, or even several hundred million euros, if we were to speak today. Nevertheless, we left. The man did not admit defeat and the heart of Beauvais was brought back to his 48 meters. That’s what’s admirable. Doubled pillars, buttress reinforced with even more iron and stained glass windows replaced by entire sections. This reconstruction took years, at
the end of which Beauvais once again dominated Europe from above where its spire soared 150 meters high. The faithful are then convinced of this. This time, their cathedral will hold. Unfortunately, the architects again underestimated the devastating consequences of Milo de Nanteuil's initial arrogance. And two centuries later, the cathedral threatens to collapse again. On the day of the ascension, 1573, the great ceremony took place. The cathedral is completed for its transept and its magnificent tourlanterne and its highest spire in Christendom, more than 150 meters high. That day, despite all the reinforcements provided during the reconstruction, the
same symptoms produced the same effects again. While thousands of faithful gathered to pray in the nave, the cathedral was tottering under the onslaught of a storm raging outside. The ceremony ends, people leave and everything collapses. Here, you have to imagine that we have 150 meters of falling spiers and stones, which collapse straight down, a bit like the Twin Towers in New York, it falls in three and that leads to the collapse of the four vaults which are around. The cathedral that we can admire today is therefore the result of a second reconstruction following this new
disaster. But the arrogance of Milon de Nanteuil continues to pay dividends even today, as evidenced by these imposing planks Installed to prevent a third collapse. Despite these precautions, new cracks have recently appeared. The tragic history of Beauvais Cathedral has therefore not yet reached its end. But its first collapse, from 1284, put an end to the golden age of cathedrals in any case, because it coincided with several economic, geopolitical and even meteorological events which would lastingly mark the West. The collapse of Beauvais marks, so to speak, the end of the age of cathedrals. It’s cyclical. The
13th century was a time of peace, Prosperity, and exceptional development. We are reaching the end of this era of economic expansion that the West has experienced since the 11th century. We are entering what we call the start of the Little Ice Age, therefore with a period of recession. Then the climate changes, bad harvests follow one another, the epidemic becomes entangled. The catastrophe, we all know it, is 1348-149, the plague. The plague which will bleed the population like this, practically reducing the population of the West by a third, if not more. Mortality is terrible, compounded by
war. The Hundred Years' War, for us, In France, which is also another trauma, and everything breaks down. Construction sites are idling while waiting for better days. The failure of Beauvais therefore puts an end to a formidable race for the record which lasted a century and a half. An unprecedented creative fever at the origin of the most beautiful monuments in all of Christendom. With its spiers, its towers, its long, luminous naves, its large hearts and its multicolored stained glass windows, the cathedral expresses all the power of a church at the height of its domination over Europe.
If certain projects, like that of Strasbourg, for example, will end much later, These are essentially projects imagined as early as the 11th century, in the wake of the inauguration of the Saint-Denis basilica. Abbot Suger's incredible Celestial Jerusalem continued to continually inspire ambitious bishops and visionary architects until the 15th century. Everyone will want to modify, restore or enhance these fantastic mineral works of art imagined by their father. Amazing feast of one Middle Ages at a time modern and prosperous, these majestic stone vessels dedicated to the creator will forever remain unmatched in the history of humanity.
