The cathedral we see today was constructed in less than thirty years during the 13th C., a period of remarkable purity of Gothic style, which it embodies. It stands on a site where records indicate at least three previous cathedrals had stood. A sermon in glass and stone, the building is ornamented with over four thousand sculptures and houses one of the finest collections of 13th C. stained glass in all of Europe. It also is home to a relic said to be the cloak of the Virgin, and it is therefore a Marian church, hence its name, Notre Dame de Chartres.

Our private Chartres tours reveal what makes the cathedral unique and initiates the visitor in the fine art of reading the Biblical stories, which are depicted in stained glass and stone. We also relate how the cathedral became a key place of Catholic pilgrimage, wealth and economic power, and therefore the object of envy to covetous political powers who vied for control of it and its alluring resources.

Our private Chartres tours will also take you on a walk through the old town, draped on the side of a hill leading down to the river, where the names of streets and numerous restored mills evoke professions (millers, dyers, drapers, tanners, curriers, fullers, and tawers, to name a few) of bygone eras that no longer exist. Not far away, there is a Michelin single star restaurant, Les Georges, where you can have a refined meal. Many simpler but still delightful dining options abound.