Designing Chartres Cathedral: A Geometrical Perspective

Dear friends,

The Millenium Celebrations of Chartres Cathedral continue with our Online-Lecture Series. In collaboration with the University of Iowa and Villa Albertine, we invite you to delve into the mysteries of medieval architecture with Professor Robert Bork, an expert in Gothic architecture and a distinguished fellow of the Medieval Academy of America, and Professor Emeritus Ellen Shortell of the Corpus Vitrearum.

This month, please join us online for a free lecture on:

Designing Chartres Cathedral: A Geometrical Perspective.

How did medieval builders in Chartres use geometry to design their remarkable cathedral? Taking advantage of laser-scanned survey data and modern design software, Robert Bork sheds new light on this fundamental question, demonstrating both remarkable continuity in the builders’ methods and previously unrecognized revisions to the cathedral’s design in the years around 1200. In this zoom presentation, Robert Bork will share these results in dialogue with Ellen Shortell, with time at the end for Q&A with the audience.

Robert Bork is professor of art history at the University of Iowa, and Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America. His research concerns Gothic architecture, with particular emphases on geometry and design practice. His publications include the books Great Spires (2003), The Geometry of Creation (2011), and Late Gothic Architecture (2018). His current book project, in which Chartres Cathedral figures prominently, considers the history of French Gothic architectural design between 1130 and 1280.

Ellen Shortell is a historian of medieval and early modern art, with a focus on Gothic architecture and stained glass. She is Professor of Art History, Emeritus, at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and holds a Master’s degree from Tufts and a PhD from Columbia University. She is currently Vice President of the international board of the Corpus Vitrearum, and past chair of the editorial committee of AVISTA (Association Villard de Honnecourt for the Interdisciplinary Study of Medieval Technology, Science, and Art).

We look forward to seeing you there!