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View to the North tower of Chartres Cathedral.

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Tour Nord

Chartres


Climbing 350 steps up to the 112m-high Tour Nord (aka Clocher Neuf; New Bell Tower) of the Cathédrale Notre Dame is well worth it. A 70m-high platform on the lacy flamboyant Gothic spire, built from 1507 to 1513 by Jehan de Beauce after an earlier wooden spire burned down, affords superb views of the three-tiered flying buttresses and the 19th-century copper roof, turned green by verdigris. Access is just behind the cathedral shop.


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Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê¼´Ê±¿ª½±'s must-see attractions

Nearby Chartres attractions

1. Portail Royal

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The west, north and south entrances of the Cathédrale Notre Dame have superbly ornamented triple portals, but the west entrance, known as the Portail…

2. Cathédrale Notre Dame

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One of Western civilisation’s crowning architectural achievements, the 130m-long Cathédrale Notre Dame de Chartres is renowned for its brilliant-blue…

3. Clocher Vieux

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Along with the the Portail Royal, the main Romanesque feature of the Cathédrale Notre Dame is the 105m-high Clocher Vieux (also called the Tour Sud or…

4. Musée des Beaux-Arts

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Chartres’ fine-arts museum, accessed via the gate next to Cathédrale Notre Dame’s north portal, is in the former Palais Épiscopal (Bishop’s Palace), built…

5. Centre International du Vitrail

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After viewing the stained glass in Chartres’ cathedral, nip into the town’s International Stained-Glass Centre, in a half-timbered former granary, to see…

6. Cathédrale Notre Dame Crypt

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The 100m crypt of Cathédrale Notre Dame, a tombless Romanesque structure built in 1024 around a 9th-century predecessor, is the largest in France. Tours…

7. Collégiale St-André

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From rue Cardinal Pie, the stairways Tertre St-Nicolas and rue Chantault – the latter lined with medieval houses (number 29 is the oldest house in…

8. Église St-Aignan

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Église St-Aignan is interesting for its wooden barrel-vault roof (1625), arcaded nave and painted interior of faded blue and gold floral motifs (c 1870)…