Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres (Eure-et-Loir, France)

The Abbé rose and went to the window.

“Oh, the rain will not cease,” said Durtal. “I am very much afraid, Monsieur l’Abbé, that we cannot examine the Cathedral porches to-day.”

“There is no hurry. Before going into the details of Notre Dame, would it not be well to contemplate it as a whole, and let its general purpose soak into the mind before studying each page of its parts?

“Everything lies contained in that building,” he went on, waving his hand to designate the church; “the scriptures, theology, the history of the human race, set forth in a broad outline. Thanks to the science of symbolism a pile of stones may be a macrocosm.”

“I repeat it, everything exists in this structure, even our material and moral life, our virtues and our vices. The architect takes us up at the creation of Adam to carry us on to the end of time. Notre Dame of Chartres is the most colossal depository existing of heaven and earth, of God and man. Each of its images is a word; all those groups are phrases—the difficulty is to read them.”

“But it can be done?”

Undoubtedly. That there may be some contradictions in our interpretations I admit, but still the palimpsest can be deciphered. The key needed is a knowledge of symbolism.”

(79-80)

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