Chartres cathedral versus Amiens Cathedral

Chartres and Amiens Cathedrals

Gothic architecture from the 11th-14th centuries has yielded many magnificent basilican cathedrals. Two such famous cathedrals with twin-tower, west-end façades illustrate exceptional importance. They are Chartres Cathedral and Amiens Cathedral, both located in France. Although both churches are generally based on the same modern design form of their time, their individual aspects are self complimentary and reveal important properties.
The west-end façade of Chartres Cathedral was built around 1145 and towers in the air. The two towers at Chartres are not flush with the façade. They maintain to keep their form as they stretch completely to the ground, helping create a sense of greater height. Thus, the space between the two towers is distinctively separate from them. Two alluvial lines separate this area into three equal layers. The bottom layer contains three elaborately sculpted portals. All three portals enter directly int...