2023 Jill Geoffrion Post-Gathering Workshop Sunday PM

2023 Sunday Afternoon Post-Gathering Workshop
1:00 to 4:00 pm
Separate $55 Pre-Registration Required

Stained Glass Reflections:The Chartres Labyrinth and The Windows Surrounding It
with Jill Kimberly Hartwell Geoffrion

Does the dragon above the labyrinth hint at its medieval uses? Why would shoemakers donate a window that lines up with the start/finish of the cathedral labyrinth? What does a life of reversals in the Saint Eustache window have to do with the twenty-eight half-turns in the labyrinth? How can the call to be Good Samaritan shown to the south of the labyrinth light the way of modern walkers? Can the family who has returned from Santiago de Compostela inspire walkers of the labyrinth below their image to seek the blessings of pilgrimage? How might the image of Mary nursing above the labyrinth relate to its shape and function?

There is more to the Chartres labyrinth’s context in the cathedral than first meets the eye. Come look more closely as Jill shows images of the stained glass, including details not usually visible (without binoculars). Come find out what imagery from the twelfth-century windows placed before the labyrinth was built and the stories and colors of the thirteenth-century-stained glass placed after the construction of the labyrinth can open for us.

Watch this short video of windows surrounding the cathedral labyrinth that Jill filmed from the center of the labyrinth.

Jill has spent the past twenty-five years photographing, studying, researching, and enjoying the stained-glass windows and the labyrinth which make Chartres Cathedral famous. Her book, Visions of Mary: Art, Devotion, and Beauty at Chartres Cathedral, includes many images from the windows that surround the labyrinth. Join Jill as she describes new connections between the stone labyrinth below and the glass windows above. Come follow the path of discovery. Jill hopes you will leave inspired, encouraged, lifted, and grounded.