The Palenque Traveler Goes to Chartres

Old Jun 9th, 2005, 12:46 PM
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The Palenque Traveler Goes to Chartres

Chartres is one of the finest day trips from Paris - not just for the glorious Gothic cathedral but for the sweet regional town that surrounds it. Here's more than you ever wanted to know about Chartres probably, in the form of an article i once wrote for the Palenque Traveler, a european travel magazine i once wrote. Pardon the typos.
Please add in your comments on what i consider one of the most fun day trips in Europe.
INTRO
A grand excursion from Paris goes to nearby chartres and its world-famous cathedral. Known for its unsurpassed expanses of medeival stained glass, the cathedral has changed little since most of it was built in the 1200s, the reason it's often called Europe's finest Gothic and best-preseerved medieval cathedral. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the cathedral, through its many statues and scenes portrayed in its stained-glass windows, also provides a rare glimpse into life in the Middle Ages. Chartres also offers other ancient churches with marvelous stained glass, a charming old quarter and the chance to experience a delightful French regional town that is far different and far more typically French than Paris. Chartres is an easy day trip from Paris as trains spit you out within sight of its great cathedral.
HISTORY & BACKGROUND
After being a Celtic settlement named after the Carnutes tribe, Chartres was a Roman settlement (named Autricum) and then a Gallo-Roman one. Legens say that Druids once worshipped here, and also that a pagan cult's religious practice centered around a sacred spring and devotion to a mother-goddess, later evolving in the fourth century into one of the world's first Christian centers that quickly grew in importance. From early on, Chartres was devoted to the worship of the virgin Mary. by AD 876, it was already such a famous place of Marian worship that Holy Roman Emperor Charles the Bald gave to its cathedral the Sancta Camisia, a garment purportedly worn by the Virgin Mary when Jesus was born. Because the medieval fiathful believed that siantly entities like Mary could intercede in their behalf thru these relics, pilgrims flocked to Chartres to fervently pray before the sacred garment. As Chartres began to attract more and more pilgrims, one of Europe's most prosperous towns grew up around the cathedral. Several cathedrals, each biggere and grander than th e previous one, paved the way for today's immense structure, whose construction began after a fiew in 1194 destroyed 2/3s of the town and most of the previous cathedral except for its crypt, towers, a few stained-glass windows and much of the west facade. At first, ti was feared that the holy relic had too been devoured by the flames, and that the Virgin, who locals believed had pre3viously protected the town from hard, had abandoned them. But, lo and behold, three days later, church officials miraculously brought the relic out of the rubbed inscathed, pontificating that this was an omen that Mary wished a bigger and better church. Though some suggest that hocus-pocus was involved in miraculously finding the relic, which was by this time the cathedral's and the town's raison d'etre, unharmed, it's plausible that it survived intact because it had been placed in the crypt, which survived the fire. Plans were quickly formulated to build a bigger and even more glorious cathedral than its already formidable predecessor. As medieval cathedrals were the one place that both the rich and poor were, at least to God, equal, everyone took great pride in their cathedral, and the whole community coalesced to rebuilt it, viewing their efforts as a wise investment to help them get to heave, to insure that Mary would continue to protect their town and, importantly, to keep the lucrative tourist torrent from drying up. Local businesses and guilds that profited off the tourist trade donated liberally; teems of peasants carted building stones five miles from a quarry; and hundreds of artisans fashioned the stone blocks into today's stunning structure.
TO BE CONTINUED
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Old Jun 10th, 2005, 06:52 AM
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History & background Continued
The church was built just when the gothic style was storming Europe, with the aid of new creations like intersecting ceiling arches that relieved pressue off the walls so that churches could be built loftier and much more grandiose than previous squat Romanesque ones. An innovation employed by the unknown architecutral geniuses that designed the new cathedral was the use of mammoth flying buttresses that, buttressing up the walls from the outside, made possible higher churches as well as allowed the installation of many more windows, thus resulting in brighter interiors. Though previously flying buttresses had been added to existing churches, Chartres was the first one that incorporated them as an integral part of its original design, and they then became hallmarks of Gothic churches. The increased window space led to the expanses of stained glass for which the cathedral is now so famous. Thus, chartres became a template for the slew of Gothic churches built all over Europe not after it. Though the new cathedral was consecrated in 1260, most of it was built between 1194 and 1220, unfathomably quick for Gothic cathedrals that were more typically built over a span of centuries, accounting for its much ballyhooed and nearly unrivaled pure Gothic style. And unlike most Gothic cathedrals, Chartres has remained basically unaltered by subsequent additions or remodeling so that it's the real medieval deal. With the completion of the exquisite new cathedral, which no doubt must have awed folks in the Middle Ages even more than it does today's tourists, a gusher of pilgrims, including many royals, from all over Europe once again flooded in to make Chartres one of medeival Europe's most hopping religious sites. Though it grew rich off pilgrims, Chartres also became a thriving regional town as it was the capital of the former French province of Beauce, which, with miles of unbroken extremely fertile fields, is one of Europe's breadbaskets.
TO BE CONTINUED
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Old Jun 10th, 2005, 10:03 AM
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History & background cont
Medieval Chartres was also one of Europe's top centers of learning as scholars gravitated to the Chartres Cathedral School until Paris' Sorbonne opened and siphoned them away. Unlike many other great Gothic cathedrals, Chartres managed to escape being seriously damaged in the wars that raged around it. During the French Revolution's Reign of Terror, when atheistic extremists snatched power and trashed many religious sites, the cathedral was luckily largely spared, though it did lose some statues to revolutionary zeal, such as the famed Our lady of the Crypt that was burnt in public. The cathedral survived the revolutionary tempest by serving as a secularized Temple of Reason. The last of severaal great fires at the cathedrals destroyed the wooden roof in 1836, but left the structure under it intact, and was replaced by the metal roof in place today. During WWI, the stained glass was removed for safekeeping elsewhere, as it was in WWII, when German-occupied Chartres and its rail yard near the cathedral were incessantly bombed by the Allies. But in both wars, the Virgin worked her magic again, and the cathedral was nearly untouched. Though the still significant pilgrim traffic is a mere trickle compared to medieval days, camera-toting tourists, many arriving by a parade of tour buses, pick up the slack. But as few tourists stay the night or even poke around town, their economic impact is less than at other tourist meccas. Chartres, however, administrative capital of the French departement of the Eure-et-Loir, remains a thriving regional town. Though ringed by modern development, Chartres' city center retains an age-old look as the town has recently meticulously restored its old quarter to its ancient visage.
TO BE CONTINUED
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Old Jun 10th, 2005, 11:44 AM
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CHARTRES ORIENTATION
Though Chartres' big kahuna sight is its cathedral, there are other things to do here, including strolling through its charming old quarter around the cathedral and along the cute lazy Eure River. Other main sights include the International Stained-Glass Center; Saint-Andre church; Saint-Pierre church; Saint-Aignan church; Picassiette's House. The Petit Train Touristique people mover periodically wheels folks around town on short tours with commentary. Or, using the tourist office's map, you can do a self-directed signposted tour of the old quarter using the office's walking tour map and cassettes.
GETTING THERE FROM PARIS
By Rail - Trains roll hourly between Paris-Montparnasse station and Chartres, taking 1.25 hours, going via Versailles (1 hr from Chartres) and continuing on to Le Mans (1.25 hr from Chartres). Switch at Le Mans for Tours (1 hr from Le Mans) or Nantes (1.25 hr) or Rennes (1.25 hr). www.sncf.com for detailed schedules and fares.
Arriving by Rail - Chartres' rail station is a five-minute walk from the cathedral, which can be seen from the station so it's easy to find.
By Road - chartres could be a good first or last stop when motoring into or out of Paris en route to places like the Loire Valley, Brittany or Normandy. Parking is tight in the town center, however. Rather than driving into or out of the Paris megalopolisd and having to deal with its horrendous traffic, consider railing to Chartrres and picking up your rental car there, or dropping it off there and railing back to Paris.
Itinerary Planning - Chartres can easily be seen in half a day if need be, though a leisurely day poking around town is better. Rail travelers can stop off in Chartres and the next day go onto place like the Loire Valley, Normandy or Brittany. The probable lack of luggage storage in the station inhibits stopping here for a few hours and then railing on. (No current word in 2005 on availability of luggage storage - expect none.) Staying overnight allows you to thoroughly enjoy a nice regional French town and to glimpse the cathedral at night when its facade is wonderfully illuminated and perhaps catch an organ or choir performance in the evening. Though Chartres and Versailled could be combined in the same day, to do so start early and hit Versailles before the long lines form at the palace and then go onto Chartres as the cathedral should be open to 8pm or so.
TO BE CONTINUED

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Old Jun 10th, 2005, 11:51 AM
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What happened to the Grand Portal, the continuous triforium (?), the famous Chartres Bleu (note also the famous Notre Dame de Belle Verriere) and the incongruity between the North and South towers?

The essay needs to be rewritten.

(I'm just joking.)
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Old Jun 10th, 2005, 12:00 PM
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The essay is not nearly done - all that is covered in more detail than most will want when i get to the bulk of the article: The Cathedral. Coming up next! thanks for your interest, however.
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Old Jun 10th, 2005, 12:03 PM
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Well, I'm thinking about going to Chartres in July, so that's why I've been reading up on Gothic architecture and why I read your postings (thanks!).

I must admit that a lot of the terms still confuse me. If you know of good references, please let me know (I had a cathedrals thread going a while back).

Oddly B&N and Borders don't seem to stock too many books on cathedral architecture.
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Old Jun 10th, 2005, 12:37 PM
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I have a great cathedral book - simple and shows lots of diagrams, if i can find it i'll give you the name and details.
Now you've got me worried about the continuous triforium - scanning my old article i'm not sure that's in there - i may need your help re-writing and inserting this.
It's 'pellucid Chartres blue'
Q - does the color Chartreuse have anything to do with Chartres?
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Old Jun 10th, 2005, 12:46 PM
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I'm a little confused -- but I think that Chartres has three-part elevation (arcade, triforium, clerestory). Some cathedrals have four-part elevation, but in Chartres, one level is eliminated. I don't know whether this is regarded more advanced or less advanced though.

If you type "Chartres continuous triforium" into Google, this link pops up:

http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~hart331/02-14.html

"Triforium: Chartres--continuous band with passage (Prototype: St. Vincent, Laon or St. Ived, Braine)"

I'm not really sure what that means.

I find that a lot of the stuff I read have a lot of buzz words, and I've trouble understanding what they mean (understandably).

I'm not sure about chartreuse -- Michelin makes a big deal about the Chartres Bleu.

Art books make a great deal about the sculptures of the Grand Portal.
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Old Jun 10th, 2005, 12:51 PM
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Answer to query about "chartreuse": No; it comes from the "chartreux" monks of the Grande-Chartreuse (convent or monastery of "chartreux") who made a liqueur that came in yellow or green. The liqueur is still made, but not by the monks, I think.

http://atilf.atilf.fr/Dendien/script...;s=3425904855;
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Old Jun 10th, 2005, 12:58 PM
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Ok, see this

http://www.coco.cc.az.us/apetersen/_...othic_arch.htm

"Early Gothic four part elevation

Early Gothic -nave arcade - gallery - triforium - clerestory
High Gothic- three part elevation
- eliminating the gallery and enlarging the clerestory"
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Old Jun 10th, 2005, 01:41 PM
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The Chartres triforium was placed at the halfway point in the height of the structure, dividing the upper from the lower stories and acting as a running (continuous) horizontal border. It served as a lengthwise passageway and in Chartres it has no windows because of the lean-to roof over the side aisles. In later cathedrals, builders were able to introduce windows in the back wall, thereby allowing light to enter into the triforium.
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Old Jun 10th, 2005, 04:17 PM
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Actually there were originally 3 types of chartreuse -- green, yellow and white. But the formula for the white was lost when the monk who knew it was killed in WWII. Since then more than one monk knows the formula.

As for Chartres. No argument. The town is as sweet as the cathedral is glorious.
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Old Jun 13th, 2005, 07:24 AM
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THE CATHEDRAL
Though many tourists just take a casual look at Our Lady of Chartres (Notre-Dame de Chartres in French) Cathedral, usually simply referred to as Chartres Cathedral, if you look carefully, the cathedral, its statues and stained glass tell a spellbinding story of medieval life. The last of several previous churches erected on the same spot, today's cathedral was built as a Gothic church after the fire of 1194 burnt down most of the previous structure. Step back into the square fronting the cathedral to marvel at an acclaimed architectural masterpiece - its main (west) facade, the lower part of which was built just before and survived the fire of 1194. This facade is deemed one of the great works of medieval art, especially its magnificent Royal Portal with its many intricately sculpted statues that, surrounding three huge doors, depict christ, the Apostles and Biblical scenes and figures. Above the Royal Portal are three lancet windows and above them, added after the fire of 1194, an enormous rose window. The Royal Portal and the two towers, which also survived the fire, having been built in the 1100s, all idsplay a Romesaue influence along with traits of the new gothic style. The 367-foot-high North Tower received a new top with a more flamboyant look in the early 1500s, featuring delicate lace-like stone masonry, so that it contrasts greatly with the much plainer octagonal-topped 338-foot-high South Tower, called one of Europe's finest romaesque cathedral towers. Ascend the North Tower for a gripping view of Chartres and the rolling Beauce countryside as well as of the cathedral's flying buttresses, the South Tower and, meant to ward off evil spirits, a plethora of intriguing gargoyles and sculptures of grotesque beasts. Be sure to walk around the church to admire its intensely sculpted North Portal and South Portal, both consensus gems of stone craftmanshoip, and the awesome flying buttresses. As fine as the facade and exterior are, however, the cathedral's real glory is its astounding expanses of stained glass awaiting inside the cavernous interior that, 427 feet long and having the widest nave in France (53 ft 8 in), is one of the largest in Christendom. The window scenes, along with statues inside and out, depict over 10,000 figures, making the cathedral a veritable Bible in glass and stone portraying a symbolic medieval version of the Biblical world from the Creation to the Last judgment, didactically showing the fiathful the way to heaven and gruesomely portraying the horros, heaven forbid, awaiting in hell. Various royals, rich folk, businesses and guilds sponsored installation of the windows when the cathedral was rebuilt after the 1194 fire. Guild members and their trades and tools are depicted in the lower panes of the windows they funded, and these portrayals of bakers, masons, carpenters, vintners, moneychangers, pharmacists, tailors, blacksmits, butchers and the like are hailed as lending a rare portrait of workaday life of the time. In days when pilgrims were typically illiterate, they could thus read the windows as we now can read the Bible, typically being read from left ot right, from the bottom upwards.
TO BE CONTINUED
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Old Jun 13th, 2005, 08:42 AM
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The windows, continued
Of the over 25,000 square feet of glass, much of it incredibly original 12th- or 13th-century glass, the most noticeable windows, and thus the ones carrying themost important messages, are the three humongous rose windows, with the west one portraying the last Judgment, the south one the end of the world, and the end of the world, and the north one stories from the Old Testament. a few 12th-century windows survived the fire of 1194, including the famous three lancet windows below the west rose windows -- looking at the windows from inside the cathedral, the one of the right details Christ's genealogy, the center one portrays his life, and the left one depicts his death and resurrection. The 12th-century windows are famed for their deep Chartres blue color, whcih for ages was believed to be a trade secret whose formula could not be duplicated, though recent research says that there were no real secret ingredients but that the materials used to make them rendered them more resistant to darkening, caused by dirt and corrosion, than panes subsequently made with other ingredients. The west windows are especially sublime when the rays of the setting sun strikes them. Famous because it was once worshipped by pilgrims, the Blue Virgin Window, by the South Portal, is also renowned for the Chartres blue color in its original four panes of 12th-century glass, whcih survived the 1194 fire, that picture the Virgin and Child and are set within a 13th-century stained-glass window. As the higher windows are hard to see, it helps to have The Cathedral Short Guide in English, sold in the cathedral shop, as well as binoculars (which can be rented at a nearby shop La Crypte). The windows are slowly being cleansed, restoring them to a translucent glow noticeably much brighter than those awaiting the treatment, thus brightening up an interior that had become dim thru the ages.
TO BE CONTINUED
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Old Jun 14th, 2005, 08:08 AM
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The Cathedral Continued
A non-medieval feature of the cathedral is its striking finely chiseled Renaissance choir screen that portrays scenes from the lives of the Virgin and of Christ. Started in 1514, the screen incredibly took 200 years to finish. By the North Portal is our Lady of the Pillar, an ornately garbed wooden statue of the Virgin's garment, encased in a glass reliquary. The St. Piat Chapel was added to the ambulatory to house the cathedral Treasury. In the cathedral's bowels, the 11th-century crypt is the largest in France, made so big in order to shelter as many pilgrims as possible, and has ancient remnants of third- or fourth-century walls and ninth-century pillars. (Crypt at time of writing could only be seen on special tours of it. The Our Lady of the Underground Chapel with the much-venerated Our Lady of the Crypt, a contemporary reincarnation of a 12th-century statue burnt in 1793 during the French Revloution, has traditionally been the venue of fervent pilgrim adoration. The crypt also has some medieval frescoes and the ancient Saints Forts Well.
Cathedral Potpourri
The cathedral was designed to accommodate swarms of pilgrims, many of whom were sheltered overnight inside, the reason why its floor slopes noticeably to the west in order to facilitate washing away all their flotsam. In medieval days, to make room for as many pilgrims as possible, there were no chairs inside. Today, chairs often hide the 42-foot-in-diameter labyrinth, a maze in the form of a spiral that is inset in the paving stones of the floor near the west entrance. Pilgrims, upon their knees and praying, once navigated the 273 yards through this maze to its center and then back out again, with the path symbolizing that paradise awaits good Christians at the end of the long often arduous journey through life; some sources say that reaching the center of the maze was difficult and important, but finding one's way out again was what really mattered as it symbolized rebirth. Chartres Cathedral has always been devoted just to the Virgin Mary, and, thus, unlike most cathedrals, it's not cluttered by tombs of illustrious cardinals, bishops, saints, royals or the like. The church can be a zoo in summer, clogged with tour groups. Tour guide Malcolm Miller says that on one day in August he counted 20 separate Japanese groups, each with about 60 members! Crowds thicken as the day wears on and thin out in later afternoon.
NEXT:
..THE CATHEDRAL FROM AFAR
..THE LEGENDARY CANTANKEROUS MALCOLM MILLER AND HIS TOURS!
..PICASSIETTE'S HOUSE
..A CHARTRES WALK
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Old Jun 14th, 2005, 12:45 PM
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THE CATHEDRAL FROM AFAR
Chartres' cathedral is perhaps even more awesome when glimpsed from afar. people who are fortunate enough to approach Chartres by road across the flat Beauce will catch a mesmerizing view of the cathedral, perched on the highest hill in town, and its soaring twin towers many miles before town - a sight that must have been mystical to medieval pilgrims, most of whom approached by foot and held high hopes that their pilgrimage would be rewarded by having their prayers answered once they reached it and did their obligations. Some fine views are about 15 miles away on the route to Blois and the Loire Valley. Rail travelers too should keep their eyes peeled for a limpse of the towers upon approach to town. in Chartres itself, cross the Eure River and climb the hill sloping up from it to get a super view of the cathedral. The youth hostel on this hill offers a superb view of the cathedral from its dining room and terrace.
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Old Jun 14th, 2005, 02:21 PM
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Apparently it's now possible to watch the Art of the Western World online. I just watched episode 2, and it's quite interesting.

This is where you get the program:

http://www.learner.org/resources/series1.html

I summarized the episode on my blog. Chartres receives fairly extensive coverage.

http://makeashorterlink.com/?U2731334B
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Old Jun 14th, 2005, 05:36 PM
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Thanks for doing this post, PalQ. After 7 trips to France, I still haven't seen Chartres - and definitely intend to go my next trip.
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Old Jun 15th, 2005, 06:30 AM
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THE INFAMOUS MALCOLM MILLER
To learn more about the cathedral, take tours in English led by Malcolm Miller, a purported British academic who for about 50 years has created a cottage industry studying, writing and guiding folks around the church. Malcolm' spiel does better than most guidebooks in making the cathedral's stones and stained glass leap to life as he "reads" some of the windows and statues much like illiterate medieval pilgrims must have originally visually read them. Miller also often demonstrates by using group members what a crucial role flying buttresses play in propping up the immense structure and how they revolutionized architecture. Miller's tours have gained quite a repute, and he has become an attraction in himself. But not everyone will enjoy the rather academic if entertaining tours. Warning! Don't distract the scholar during his discourse or you may incur his wrath. On one tour BETS researchers took, Miller went into conniptions while explaining the statues found on the south portal when, he claimed, he was purposefully buzzed by local teens on their noisy mopeds. Obviously the teens reveled in so provoking the old man and did it routinely probably. Miller does tours a few times most days except during some winter months when he often tours the US giving lectures on campuses. Look for a tour sign inside the entrance. Tours are not guaranteed - on my most recent Miller tour, when only a handful of folks showed up, Miller, not lacking hubris, haughtily declared that he must get a minimum total amount of moola for his efforts or "he had better things to do with his time," exclaiming that there would be no tour unless we all paid double the normal fee to make it worth his while! Nevertheless I highly recommend Miller's tours as a way of bringing the cathedral to life.
Anyone have any comments on Miller's tours and your experiences?
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