Keyhole

Photo Courtesy Yann Prigent

With so much to see in Paris, it’s easy to shortchange Versailles. Over the years, I made a number of half-day trips to Versailles, dreading the lines I’d face waiting to visit the Château and bracing myself for the crowds of fellow tourists.

Recently, though, I’ve come to embrace Versailles as a destination unto itself rather than a simple daytrip from Paris. The more time I spend in Versailles, the more I grow to appreciate its splendor, history, and dynamism.

Every year, millions of people visit Versailles’ Château, gardens, and Trianon Palaces, and each year the crowds grow! I have learned how to navigate the swelling crowds of Versailles, and I am setting out to create a guide to the Château, its grounds, and the city of Versailles. My French co-authors are Art Historian Stéphane Ceccaldi and Professor Yann Prigent. As we research, write, and photograph, I will share some of my Versailles secrets with you on Creative Sanctuary. Collected in the My Versailles category of the blog, the brief posts “unlock” Versailles with personal tips and tricks for avoiding long lines at the Château. I’ll share favorite restaurants at all price points and highlight local hotspots often overlooked by tourists. Please send questions and inquiries to unlockingversailles@gmail.com.

...everything is already present, though hidden.
–Hildegard of Bingen

We’re drawn to the grandeur of Gothic cathedrals—height, history, stained glass, light. So old! So holy! So overwhelming!

I’ve made my way to Chartres Cathedral several times in the last twenty years, and each visit allows me to know the space more intimately. With each day spent wandering the Cathedral, its light, colors, and shapes become more deeply rooted in my internal landscape. Likewise, I think that through my thought and presence, I become part of the very long history of Notre-Dame de Chartres. I believe that different versions of myself linger in the transepts, the ambulatories, and on the 13^th century labyrinth.

During my last visit to Chartres, the Cathedral was cold and hushed. More than usual, I absorbed detail. A small, dried bouquet tacked to a column, a group of women praying the rosary at the foot of a statue of the Virgin Mary, a tunic-shaped keyhole on the North Porch of the church. The decoration had been already present, though hidden to me, lost among the statues of Old Testament figures. The minute detail announces that Notre-Dame de Chartres houses the Sancta Camisia, a veil that is believed to have been worn by the Virgin Mary. A sacred relic, the garment was given to Chartres in 876 by Charlemagne’s grandson, Charles the Bald. The Sancta Camisia has been credited with protecting the Cathedral over the centuries, and it is still an object of devotion for pilgrims.

Each of my occasional Chartres pilgrimages helps me to unlock present-hidden parts of myself. The knowledge doesn’t reside in the Cathedral like I once thought. Rather, I believe that sacred places emanate a peaceful beauty that enables us to access the wisdom we already possess.