Chartres Cathedral

Chartres is a little town about an hour SW of Paris, famed worldwide for its gorgeous Gothic cathedral with stunning stained glass. The church survived the Revolution with only minor damage to the exterior, but was almost bombed to the ground in WWII.

The cathedral was mostly finished in 1220. The shorter, plainer tower was completed first, around 1150, while the taller one is much newer, dating to the early 1500s.