Joost van Santen Light Art
Inspiration, the cathredal of Chartres, France
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| Start | Ando | Java | Chartres | Corbusier | Iceland | Kahn | ||
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| Kalkar | Ladakh | Rembrandt | Svalbard | Turrell | Vermeer | Wadden |
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| The cathedral at Chartres (also called Notre Dame as it is dedicated to "Our Lady," or the Virgin Mary) is the most important in the development of the Gothic cathedrals. The cathedral has a great monumentality and lightness of form which increases the thrilling, emotional, and spiritual experience of entering a cathedral. Chartres attains a quality of weightlessness and an immaterial expression as the space, illuminated by stained glass, expands upward and outward. Chartres has been called the "visible soul" of the Middle Ages. Chartres retains most of its original medieval stained glass and is therefore unique. Chartres burned or was destroyed six times and the church represents the final rebuilding with the exception of the westward which survived the fire of 1134. |
Changing daylight images appear in the commissions and sculptures of Joost van Santen,
adding value to the physical appaerance of the works.