The Cathedral

A magnificent cathedral. A language written in stone and glass. A soul searching for the divine meaning hidden within both.Having embraced the Catholic faith, Durtal leaves Paris and settles in Chartres, where the great medieval cathedral becomes the centre of his spiritual and intellectual life. Beneath its soaring vaults and before its ancient statues and stained glass, he seeks to understand the vast system of Christian symbolism preserved within the building. Architecture, sacred art, the lives of the saints, Marian devotion, medieval theology, and the mysteries of the liturgy become parts of a spiritual language through which Durtal attempts to draw closer to God.Yet conversion has not ended his struggle. Restless, dissatisfied with ordinary life, and increasingly attracted to religious solitude, Durtal must consider where his newfound faith will ultimately lead him. Rich with mystical symbolism, Gothic architecture, religious art, and searching reflections on Catholic spirituality, J. K. Huysmans's The Cathedral transforms Chartres Cathedral into something more than a setting: a monumental book of stone through which the beliefs, imagination, and spiritual aspirations of the Middle Ages continue to speak.