Often held up as being the pinnacle of gothic architecture, Chartres is so much more than a building. Begun relatively early in the period that we now think of as Gothic, it is pioneering in so many ways.

While it took many years to complete (and had to be rebuilt several times, due to fires, etc), it is one of the most 'whole' cathedrals that you will find. Every piece of it seems to be in exactly the right place, for exactly the right reason - there is no 'fat'.

The complexity of the building and the decoration scheme (including the mosaics, the sculptures, the [no longer visible] painted surfaces) tells us so many stories about the period - political stories, religious stories, architectural stories, engineering stories, and so on.

If you never see another cathedral, see this one!