Chartres. Cathedral of Notre-Dame

• "A guide to Chartres cathedral, now that it is being restored to its former glory
• One of France's most symbolic cathedrals
• A text that takes account of the most recent discoveries

Notre-Dame de Chartres, an emblematic Gothic cathedral, was built from 1194 onwards, on the foundations of an earlier edifice from which some outstanding Romanesque features have been preserved: the crypt, the millennium of which will be celebrated in 2024, the Royal Portal and the three lancets on its western façade, and the panels of Notre-Dame de la Belle-Verrière. In addition to the discoveries that have enriched our knowledge of the monument, the book describes the spectacular care it has undergone, well after the metal structure - then totally innovative - that replaced the nave's framework, destroyed by fire in 1836.

Since the recent restoration of its polychrome interior decoration and its 150or so bays covered in coloured stained glass, it has once again blazed with a brightness approaching its original state. The close link between architecture, stained glass and polychrome decoration is confirmed by the painted trompe-l'œil windows uncovered in the west bays.

The splendour of a major reference point in the history of French religious sculpture has also just been restored: the forty scenes inserted into the stone lacework of the "choir tower", one of the few surviving enclosures in France, sculpted between 1529 and 1716 by the finest artists of the time. They enclose the choir, which has been brought up to ^18th-century standards by the architect Victor Louis, whose stucco and blue draperies have been restored to their former glory.

In addition to the liturgical furniture designed by the goldsmith Goudji for the transept crossing, the cathedral remains open to contemporary creation, with the showcase created in 2020 by the designer Hubert Le Gall for the Virgin's Veil, a relic considered to be the Holy Shirt of Mary, which is the pride of Chartra's inhabitants.

This book also heralds another exceptional event: the forthcoming reopening of the Saint-Piat chapel, closed for over 20 years, where some of the finest pieces of Gothic sculpture in France and the cathedral's treasury will be housed on two levels. Four stained glass windows created by the Korean artist Bang Ai Ja will be displayed alongside four historiated decorations from a recently revealed collection of high-quality paintings from the second half of the ^14th century.

Fabienne Audebrand, Curator of Antiquities and Works of Art, Eure-et-Loir.

Irène Jourd'heuil, head curator of heritage, curator of historic monuments at the DRAC Centre-Val de Loire.

Philippe Plagnieux, professor of the history of medieval art at the University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne and at the École des Charte de Paris.