As Minhas Fotos de Portas e Janelas // My Photos of Doors and Windows: August 2022

"THE 11 CIRCUIT CHARTRES CATHEDRAL LABYRINTH"

THE 11 CIRCUITRY LABYRINTH Set into the floor stones in the nave of Chartres Cathedral may be the world’s most recognized and famous path, yet it is surrounded in mystery.

Thought to be a representation of the spiritual quest of the pilgrim traveling to the holy land, labyrinths like this began appearing in Europe in the 12th century, mostly in Italy. The labyrinth at Chartres is a little over 42 feet in diameter, and is thought to have once been graced by an image of the Minotaur at its center (a motif common in mazes and labyrinths around the world).

There have been many theories and elaborate mythology surrounding the original construction of the labyrinth. It is most likely constructed in the first decades of the 13th century, but no one knows for sure exactly when the labyrinth was made, as no documents have yet been found, and little is known about the builders. An excavation in 2001 investigated claims that the center of the labyrinth was the site of a memorial or tomb for the cathedral and/or labyrinth masons, but despite extensive digging, no evidence was found to back up such claims.

Nonetheless, pilgrims have indeed been coming to Chartres to walk the famous labyrinth for hundreds of years now, and the tide shows no sign of slowing.

The Cathedral itself is a marvel of Gothic architecture, constructed over 26 years beginning in 1145. In addition to the labyrinth, pilgrims visit the site to see the Sancta Camisa, a relic purporting to be the tunic worn by Mary at Jesus’ birth, and the Puits des Sants-Forts, or the “Well of Strong Saints” – the supposed final resting place of early martyr saints who met a messy end. The Cathedral is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The location of the labyrinth in the cathedral is not chosen arbitrarily and its dimensions are not accidental, there are hidden many numeral qualities, which are no more familiar to us today. Surely we will not arrive to understand them completely.

SEEN FROM THE PULPIT

The 11-circuit labyrinth is not a new development of Chartres. It was already well-known before. The toothed circumference and the center with the 6 circular elements are new. The completion was in the year 1200, it was planned intensively and in detail. The labyrinth had a prime at that time and was also built in other Gothic cathedrals. It was new to all of them that they were walkable and that their symbolism was (also) based on mathematical elements.

SEEN FROM OUTSIDE

The labyrinth of Chartres is designed according to the geometry of the circle both in the whole as well as in many details. The circle is the symbol of the eternity, the infinity, of the omnipotence of God, of the sun. The sun anew is in Christianity the symbol for Christ, the new sun. The 114 graduations at the outside of the perimeter (also called lunations) divided by 6 (the number of perfection) result in 19, the number of the sun. The Flower of Life has also 19 circles.

TURNS

The Chartres labyrinth has a diameter of 12.858 m including the lunations, without them a diameter of 12.455 m. The Australian architect John James says that the diameter of the labyrinth is equal to a circle which contains an isosceles triangle, which again corresponds to the half diagonal of the crossing of the nave and the transept. With that the figures of the circle, of the square

the holy), of the triangle

the spirit or the perfection) would be contained in the crossing and in the labyrinth.

THE ENTRANCE

In the Middle Ages there was a good dozen of "feet" as units with its derivatives hand, span, yard, thumb etc. In Chartres at least 4 different were used. The Roman foot with 294.45 mm and a further with 294.2 mm were common. The architects of the Middle Ages were fascinated by numbers. The circle played a large role, one generally used a value of 22:7 = 3.1428 for the unit Pi. In the school of Chartres a more exact value of 399:127 = 3.1417323 could have been calculated, which is not so far away from our current value of 3.1415927. The circumference was thus specified with the integral values of 399 "hands" and the diameter with 127 "hands".

THE UPPER END

The way in the labyrinth is made of bright, very hard stones from the quarries of Berchères and is on an average 343.23 mm wide. The stones are very carefully formed with different inner and outer diameters and are made in relatively long pieces. There are 273 pieces (or 276, points of fracture taken into consideration or not). The last stone at the entrance to the center has a length of 1.64 m, which can be interpreted as the average size of the medieval humans. The length of the way is 261.5 m according to John James or said in other units 740 "long feet" or 888 "Roman feet". Both numbers loaded with symbolism. The cross sum of 740 is 11 (=7+4+0), and 888 is the numeric value for the name of Christ in the Greek system. The 11 stands for the inner fight, the aberration, the trespassing of the Ten Commandments and the penalty.

The black, smaller stones from quarries of Senlis or the region of Givet separate and limit the ways. The outermost bounds and the inside limitation around the center are 85 mm wide and the others between the 11 white rings measure about 81 mm including the joints.

THE LUNATIONS

The black 114 lunations (more exactly said 113, because one is omitted for the entrance) serve as separation from the rectangular plates of the nave and as tying of the labyrinth in the floor. They were maybe inserted as first. The height of the teeth arises as a result of the difference of the overall diameter minus the diameter of the 11 rings and the center divided by 2: (12858 mm - 12455 mm) : 2 = 201.5 mm. Each tooth is manufactured from one piece with the dimensions 343.23 mm wide, 288 mm high, an opening of 262 mm and a clearance of 280 mm to the neighbouring piece. The thin place is 70 mm wide, the upper width is 93 mm. Thus a model for the stone-masons could be manufactured. The counterparts from bright stones follow these measures, are however made of larger parts.

ENTERING THE CENTER

The center itself has a diameter of 2.942 m. The innermost circle has a diameter of 1.57 m. It contained a today no longer existing copper plate. The six inner petals follow the harmonious division with 3, 5, 7 and 10 units (counted in feet). All this parts consist of partial circles. In the small clover-leaf of the closing the square root of 10 is expressed.

LEAVING THE CENTER

The rose of six petals may remind the name "Mystic Rose" for Mary, popular in the Middle Ages, and the popularity of the rose for the alchemists. Although the natural rose has only five petals, here probably the number six was chosen to demonstrate perfection.

THE LOCATION IN THE CATHEDRAL

The labyrinth is situated under the third and the fourth bay in the nave of the cathedral and is a component part of the floor. After the disastrous fire in 1194 only the west front and the two towers remained from the preceding church. The building of the new (and today's) cathedral began immediately and was completed in the very short time till 1220.

The labyrinth was integrated into planning and building from the very first beginning. Together with the floor, which is inclined in this part of the nave with approximately 3 % to the west portal, it was finished in the year 1200.

The location of the labyrinth is deliberated. But which was the aspect to choose this place?

Two of these possibilities shall be presented in the following. One theory is from John James, an Australian architect, the other one is based on the figure of the Flower of Life

SACRED GEOMETRY

Here you see the ground-plan of the crypt and at the left side the west front together with the possibly used net of the geometrical figures to appoint the sketch for the new cathedral.

John James proposes three large quadrats to get the pattern. The labyrinth marks thereby an important point.

IN THE YEAR 1200

Here you see the situation of the construction in the year 1200, the floor with the labyrinth inside is quite ready.

THE FLOWER OF LIFE

Another way how the place for the labyrinth could be fixed shows the figure of the Flower of Life. This geometrical pattern has at all 19 circles. The circle in the center is seen metaphysically as to be God. The multiplication of this circle symbolizes the development of God into the universe. By applying this figure to the ground-plan of the cathedral the labyrinth takes an important place.

The center of the labyrinth is approximately 31.75 m away from the west front. The center of the 1240 built west rose is approximately 31.75 m above the floor. Its diameter is about the same as the labyrinth's. Coincidence or intention?

The cathedral of Chartres has still more special qualities: One is its adjustment towards northeast to the position, at which the moon has its northernmost rising. Not as normally usual towards east, where the sun is rising.

Then the crossing of the nave and the transept is rectangular and not quadratic as usually in other Gothic churches.

THE MEANING OF THE NUMBERS

After the book of Benita von Schröder: Das Mysterium von Chartres, published at Verlag Urachhaus, Stuttgart, 1992.

In ancient times the numbers were thought as spiritual qualities, in the early Egypt even as divine essences, which were part of the laws of the universe and brought order to it.

Each number is a closed essence, which is differentiated through its nominal value, which shows its quality by the different methods of calculation or makes it visible in surface and space or audible in music. The cipher is only the outside.

Pythagoras

Most of us will know Pythagoras since their school time. Above all probably his theorem: a²+b²=c².

In Chartres he is sitting under the Musica together with the seven liberal arts in the right west portal.

1 -The number One represents unity, the origin, the elementary, eternity and is part of all numbers. It doesn't create neither solid nor space. Its symbols are the sphere and the circle.

2- The Pythagoreans called the Two the quarrel, from which grows out action, which is shown in polarity, but also in coexistence. As the polarity of life and death belongs to the quality of the two, one called it also the number of the revelation of the world.

3- The Three is shown most clearly in the triangle, the first earthly limited surface. The triangle anew is the symbol of the divine Trinity, which can be found behind all revelations of the three, e.g. in the eternally flowing time (past - present - future).

4- The Four produces the first earthly limited spatial solid, the tetrahedron, formed by four triangles. The four was called the world by the Pythagoreans, because it is the number of the today's earth: It consists of four elements, is enclosed by four directions, and animated by four seasons.

5- The Five is the number of individuality and crisis: The number of man. The first genuine figure of a star is formed by the five: The pentagram, into which the human form can be inscribed.

6- The Six is the number of the perfection. Its geometrical form is the hexagon, which can be formed by the radius of each circle, which fits itself six times in the circumference. The star figure of the six is the hexagram.

7- The Seven is the second perfect number, but in an other way. The seven is as a prime number indivisible, it is not to be shown as surface and spacial solid. It is the number of the time in the space, it is composed by the three and the four.

8- The Eight stands for vitality, healing power. In Christianity the eight became the number of the new life after baptism. The octagon is therefore the favoured form for many baptismal fonts.

9- It is not easy to look through the Nine, like the seven. It is the number of migration on earth, which contains a crisis and its possible overcoming.

10- The Ten is the number of earthly perfection. It is the sum of the first four numbers (1+2+3+4=10). Its checksum is the one, which represents unity. Ten forms the basis of the decimal system which makes it possible to seize optimally all terrestrial things.

11- The Eleven is a number between 10 and 12. It is a number of the inner fight and a number of transition and change.

12- The Twelve is the number of cosmic perfection. Its surface form, the dodecagon, is nearly a circle. Its spatial solid, the dodecahedron, is nearly a sphere.

13- The Thirteen is again a prime number. And a number of death, because it trespasses the twelve. New life is born from death. Therefore it has always been just so a number of the Christ. The thirteen is also called the ruler of the twelve.

276 -The 276 plays a role as to be the sum of the white stones on the way to the center of the labyrinth. The ethnologist and publisher Wolfgang Creyaufmüller of Stuttgart is making very interesting considerations about it...

https://www.mymaze.de/chartres_technisch_e.htm

HOW LONG IS THE CHARTRES LABYRINTH?

Although already (almost) everything is said, I dare, nevertheless to give some own considerations and to come along to answer the question: How long is then now the path in the Chartres labyrinth?

To this end I use a mostly exact design drawing of the labyrinth. I make this in the kind in which I have already provided several labyrinth drafts: with CAD (computer-aided design) in AutoCAD.The labyrinth has 11 circuits and a bigger middle. The six petals of the middle are not necessary for the calculation of the length of the path because the way ends in the very centre.

For the path width I attain 34.35 cm, for the limitations (walls) 8.25 cm. These are mean values, the joints are included. This results in a dimension between axes important for the design of 42.6 cm for one circuit, so 22 x 42.6 cm = 9.372 m for all the circuits. For the middle I take a dimension between axes of 3.035 m.Therefore I get an average diameter (measured in the axis of the walls) of 12.407 m for the labyrinth without the lunations. If I take the walls in addition, I come on 12.490 m.

I get an overall diameter of 12.895 m including the lunations.

In this so drawn outline I construct the path axis (the red thread, Ariadne’s thread). I get a polyline with straight lines and curve pieces which collide free of sharp bends. Normally the path axis lies in the middle of the path. However the crossings of the straight lines in the middle part causes some difficulty. There is a sort of curve widening, the width is bigger than 34 cm. This concerns 6 places in the labyrinth. There the axis can be defined differently. From there one could also calculate different path lengths.

According to my calculated alignment I get a path length of 263.05 m. The beginning of the line is the intersection of the path axis with the outside radius of the lunations.

John James stated 261.5 m as path length, Robert Ferré states 261.55 m, Jeff Saward has calculated 262.4 m (with the beginning further inside), Hermann Kern reported 294 m.

I would like to say the path length is 263 m. This is an integer. And the sum of the digits is 11, such as the 11 circuits of the labyrinth.

For my English speaking visitors I want to say it in feet: 862.86 ft.

https://blogmymaze.wordpress.com/.../how-long-is-the.../

THE NUMEROLOGY OF CHARTRES CATHEDRAL LABYRINTH

The labyrinth was designed and installed by master mason Scarlet in 1200

The meanings that seem to have been embedded into the labyrinth are both Christian and Muslim. One set comes from the Gnostic tradition of the Chartres School, and the other from Sufi beliefs.

Though the two sides were at war in the crusades, the mystic arms of both religions were pursuing the same goals.

THE USE OF ELEVEN

The Chartres labyrinth has eleven tracks, or rings. Eleven is a somewhat non-Christian number. Its source may be eastern. In early Hindu numerology the most important shrines had eleven roofs, as in Bali today. The Koran sets out the 99 most names for God that encompass the whole of His creation, to which is added the un-nameable name, called by the Sufis The State of Blindness.

The next highest state is the Hu, felt as the first exhalation, the primordial outflow of the breath of the One when He first sees Himself as both object and subject. It is the first duality, the first Yin and Yang. From here he continues to the definition of archetypes, then of matter, and so on until the whole of creation has become manifest.

The state of Hu is the highest man can reach in the quest. He cannot become God, but can approach the rose in the centre thus far. This is the most intimate name of god, and is repeated eleven times.

It is usually drawn as one+one, as two strokes one behind the other so it is still seen as one, but prescient of dual. Thus it well depicted as an eleven.

THE CURVED PATHS THEMSELVES. When you follow the path round the labyrinth, you walk around the left inner rings first, then the centre ones and finally those on the right. After this you do the left outside rings, and then the right. Notice how symmetrical the pattern is, and how orderly.

Each part has a meaning, and each segment stands for a position on the Sacred Way. Just as the cathedral is man's access to the altar and the Eucharist, so the labyrinth is an ideogram of the path man must travel in himself to be worthy of what the cathedral itself stands for. I have discussed this further in "The mystery of the great labyrinth, Chartres cathedral", Studies in Comparative Religion, xi 1977, 92-115.

If you ever get the opportunity to walk around the labyrinth you will travel a path of 261.55 meters, measured along the centre of the tracks. This is exactly 740 Ped Manualis, one of Scarlet's two foot units.

As the labyrinth has four quarters, each quarter plus one spells MARIA EST ASSUMPTA. This is from the ancient way divines would combine the meanings of words with the letters through a process called Gematria. In this modality each letter is given a number, starting with 'A' as 1, and using the 22 letters of the Roman alphabet.

Adding or subtracting one from a phrase in Gematria is acceptable, as it represents unity, and therefore the godhead itself.

The number 740 is also 20 times 37. Now 37 is a prime number. Three times this is 111, and eighteen times is 666.

THE COGS around the outside of the labyrinth have puzzled many people. Are they the ring of fire which surrounds Paradise? There are 112 of them, plus two halves at the entry. The circumference of the circle taken through the centres of all the cogs measures 114 Ped Manualis, or one Ped per cog.

The eighth century Arab Sufi-alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan divided the four elementary qualities of existence (earth, air, fire and water) into four degrees with seven subdivisions giving a total of 112 classifications which between them contained all the materials, liquids and gasses found in manifest creation. This is 111+1.

Four times 28 is 112, pperhaps reference to four lunar months (thankyou Robert Ferré).

Also, 112 is also the number of years the moon takes to repeat the Metonic cycle six times, and this is the cycle which determines the date for Easter.

The entry being to the left of centre there are 55 cogs on one side and 57 on the other. These two numbers spell ECCLESIA and DOMINE, while the whole including the two halves which add one cog spell both CHRISTUS and MARIA MATER DEI.

THE TRACKS AND THE NUMBER 35. The labyrinth has 31 curved tracks and 4 straight ones, 35 altogether. This spells BVM, which is short for Beata Virgo Maria, to whom the cathedral is consecrated.

There are 28 half-round changes of direction and six quarter changes, 34 in total. This is the number of ANNA the mother of Mary, while both 6 and 28 are the first two Perfect Numbers.

Together they add up to 34 which is one off BVM, and one off MV, or Maria Virgo.

Half of 34 is seventeen which is the letter R standing for the Resurrection.

37 times 3 is 111, which we met earlier.

Twice 35 is 70, which spells JESUS,

Thrice is 105, which is TRINITAS, and four times is 140, or CHRISTOS EST.

http://www.johnjames.com.au/chartres-thelabyrinth.shtml