The Postcard
A postally unused carte postale published by Aéro-Photo, 19 Rue de Sévigné, Paris.
Chartres
Chartres is a city and capital of the Eure-et-Loir department in France. At the 2019 census, there were 38,534 individuals living in the city.
Chartres is famous worldwide for its Gothic cathedral which is in an exceptional state of preservation. The majority of the original stained glass windows survive intact, while the architecture has seen only minor changes since the early 13th. century.
Part the old town, including most of the library associated with the School of Chartres, was destroyed by Allied bombs in 1944.
The Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres, is one of the finest and best preserved Gothic cathedrals in France and in Europe. Its historical and cultural importance has been recognized by its inclusion on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.
Chartres is built on a hill on the left bank of the river Eure. The medieval cathedral is at the top of the hill, and its two spires are visible from miles away across the flat surrounding lands. To the southeast stretches the fertile plain of Beauce, the "Granary of France", of which the town is the commercial centre.
Chartres cathedral was built on the site of the former Chartres cathedral of Romanesque architecture, which was destroyed by fire (that former cathedral had been built on the ruins of an ancient Celtic temple, later replaced by a Roman temple).
Begun in 1205, the construction of Notre-Dame de Chartres was completed 66 years later.
The stained glass windows of the cathedral were financed by guilds of merchants and craftsmen, and by wealthy noblemen, whose names appear at the bottom. It is not known how the famous and unique blue, bleu de Chartres, of the glass was created, and it has been impossible to replicate it.
Chartres in WWII
In World War II, the city suffered heavy damage, both by bombing and during the battle of Chartres in August 1944, but the cathedral was spared by an American Army officer who challenged the order to destroy it.
On the 16th. August 1944, Colonel Welborn Barton Griffith Jr. questioned the necessity of destroying the cathedral, and volunteered to go behind enemy lines to find out whether the Germans were using it as an observation post.
With his driver, Griffith proceeded to the cathedral and, after searching it all the way up its bell tower, confirmed to Headquarters that it was empty of Germans. The order to destroy the cathedral was withdrawn.
Colonel Griffith was killed in action later on that day in the town of Lèves, 3.5 kilometres (2.2 miles) north of Chartres. For his heroic action both at Chartres and Lèves, Colonel Griffith received, posthumously, decorations awarded by the President of the United States and the U.S. Military, and also from the French government.
Following deep reconnaissance missions and after heavy fighting in and around the city, Chartres was liberated on the 18th. August 1944, by the U.S. 5th. Infantry and 7th. Armored Divisions commanded by General George S. Patton.
Churches of Chartres
The Église Saint-Pierre de Chartres was the church of the Benedictine Abbaye Saint-Père-en-Vallée, founded in the 7th. century by Queen Balthild. At the time of its construction, the abbey was outside the walls of the city. It contains fine stained glass and, formerly, twelve representations of the apostles in enamel, created circa 1547 by Léonard Limosin, which now can be seen in the fine arts museum.
Other noteworthy churches of Chartres are Saint-Aignan (13th., 16th. and 17th. centuries), and Saint-Martin-au-Val (12th. century), inside the Saint-Brice hospital.
Museums of Chartres
Chartres' Museums include:
-- Le Musée des Beaux-Arts, a fine arts museum, housed in the former episcopal palace adjacent to the cathedral.
-- Le Centre International du Vitrail, a workshop-museum and cultural center devoted to stained glass art, located 50 metres (160 feet) from the cathedral.
-- Le Conservatoire du Machinisme et des Pratiques Agricoles, an agricultural museum.
-- Le Musée le Grenier de l'Histoire, a history museum specializing in military uniforms and accoutrements, in Lèves, a suburb of Chartres.
-- Le Musée des Sciences Naturelles et de la Préhistoire, a Natural science and Prehistory Museum (closed since 2015).
Other Features of Chartres
The river Eure, which at this point divides into three branches, is crossed by several bridges, some of them ancient, and is fringed in places by remains of the old fortifications, of which the Porte Guillaume (14th. century), a gateway flanked by towers, was the most complete specimen, until destroyed by the retreating German army on the night of the 15th./16th. August 1944.
The steep, narrow streets of the old town contrast with the wide, shady boulevards which encircle it and separate it from the suburbs. The Parc André-Gagnon lies to the north-west, and squares and open spaces are numerous.
Part of the Hôtel de Ville dates from the 17th. century, and is called l'Hôtel de Montescot. There is also La Maison Canoniale dating back to the 13th. century, and several medieval and Renaissance houses.
La Maison Picassiette, a house decorated inside and out with mosaics of shards of broken china and pottery, is also worth a visit.
There is also a statue of General Marceau (1769–1796), a native of Chartres and a general during the French Revolution.
The Economy of Chartres
Historically, game pies and other delicacies of Chartres are well known, and the city's industries have also included flour-milling, brewing, distilling, iron-founding, leather manufacture, perfumes, dyeing, stained glass, billiard requisites and hosiery.
More recently, businesses include the manufacture of electronic equipment and car accessories. Since 1976 the fashion and perfumes company Puig has had a production plant in the commune.
Pilgrimages
Chartres has been a site of Catholic pilgrimages since the Middle Ages. The poet Charles Péguy, who was born in 1873, revived the pilgrimage route between Paris and Chartres before the Great War.
At the outbreak of the war, Péguy became a lieutenant in the French 276th. Infantry Regiment. He died at the age of 41 in battle, shot in the forehead, near Villeroy, Seine-et-Marne on the 5th. September 1914, the day before the beginning of the Battle of the Marne. There is a memorial to Charles near the field where he was killed.
After the war, a number of students carried on the pilgrimage in his memory. Since 1982, the association Notre-Dame de Chrétienté, with offices in Versailles, organizes the annual 100 km (62 mi) pilgrimage on foot from Notre-Dame de Paris to Notre-Dame de Chartres. About 15,000 pilgrims, from France and countries outside France, participate every year.
The Bataclan Theatre Massacre
Chartres was the home of Omar Ismael Mostefaï aged 29, one of the three gunmen who attacked the audience at the Bataclan concert venue on the 13th. November 2015, starting at 21.40.
It was part of a carefully co-ordinated attack on Paris; over a 20 minute period, Islamist militants also killed and injured people at the Stade de France, and at six restaurants and cafes along the 10th. and 11th. arrondissements.
One of the restaurants was a popular Cambodian eatery in the trendy Canal Saint-Martin area, where at least 12 people died. Another 19 people were killed at a busy restaurant on nearby Rue de Charonne.
Shootings and bomb blasts on that night left a total of 130 people dead and hundreds wounded, with more than 100 in a critical condition.
The Start of the Bataclan Massacre
On the evening of the 13th. November 2015, the American rock band Eagles of Death Metal was playing to an audience of about 1,500 people at the Bataclan on the Boulevard Voltaire in the 11th. arrondissement of Paris.
Three dark-clad gunmen had been waiting in a black rental car near the venue for more than an hour, and were armed with Zastava M70 assault rifles. The M70 is a derivative of the Soviet AK-47, and can fire at a rate of 620 rounds per minute. Over 4 million of the ghastly things have unfortunately been manufactured.
The terrorists were three French natives of Algerian descent. As the band was playing their song "Kiss the Devil", the three men got out of the car and opened fire on people outside the venue, killing three.
They then burst into the concert hall and sprayed the crowd with automatic gunfire. Witnesses heard shouts of "Allahu Akbar" as the terrorists opened fire. Initially, the audience mistook the gunfire for pyrotechnics. The band ran offstage and escaped with many of the crew, although their tour manager was killed.
Rows of people were mown down by gunfire or were forced to drop to the ground to avoid being shot. Survivors described hundreds of people lying beside and on top of each other in pools of blood, screaming in terror and pain.
The gunmen also fired up into the balconies, and dead bodies fell down onto the stalls below. For a few minutes, the hall was plunged into darkness, with only the flashes from the assault rifles as the gunmen kept shooting.
The terrorists shouted that they were there because of French airstrikes against Islamic State. A witness who was inside the Bataclan heard a gunman say:
"This is because of all the harm
done by Hollande to Muslims all
over the world."
A radio reporter attending the concert reported that:
"The terrorists were calm and determined, and they
reloaded three or four times. Two gunmen attacked
the concert hall; one gunman covered fire while
another reloaded to ensure maximum efficiency."
Whenever a gunman stopped to reload, members of the crowd, some with bullets in them, ran for the emergency exits, scrambling over each other to escape. Some were shot from behind as they fled, and the terrorists laughed as they shot them. Those who reached an emergency exit were shot by the third gunman, who had positioned himself there.
Other groups of people barricaded themselves in backstage rooms. Some smashed open the ceiling in an upstairs toilet, and hid among the rafters under the roof. Those who could not run lay still on the floor or under bodies pretending to be dead. One women was seen hanging from a third floor window.
According to survivors, the terrorists walked among those who were lying down, kicked them, and shot them in the head if there were any sign of life.
An eyewitness reported hearing the gunmen ask amongst themselves where the members of the Eagles of Death Metal were once the gunfire stopped. Mostefaï and another of the gunmen then went upstairs to the balconies, while the third attacker stayed downstairs and fired at people who tried to flee.
Initial Armed Response to the Terrorists
The Brigade of Research and Intervention (BRI) arrived on the scene at 22:15, soon followed by the elite tactical unit, RAID. At 22:15, the first two responding officers entered the building armed with handguns and encountered one of the terrorists who was standing on the stage.
The Jihadist died after being shot by the officers and detonating his explosive vest. Mostefaï and the other remaining gunman (Mohamed-Aggad) then fired upon the officers, forcing them to withdraw and wait for backup.
The Stand-Off
From this point, Mostefaï and the other attacker took about twenty hostages and herded them into a room at the end of a corridor located further within the building. They also seized the hostages' mobile phones and attempted to use them to access the Internet, but they were unable to find a signal.
Some of the hostages were forced to look down into the hall and out the windows and report what they saw. During this time, the two terrorists fired on police and first responders as they arrived at the scene.
At 23:30, an elite police squad entered the building. One unit evacuated survivors from downstairs, while another unit went upstairs. They found Mohamed-Aggad and Mostefaï, who had begun using hostages as human shields. They shouted out to police the number of a hostage's phone.
Over the next 50 minutes, they had four phone exchanges with a police negotiator, during which time they threatened to execute hostages unless they received a signed paper promising France's departure from Muslim lands.
The Police Assault
The police assault began at 00:20 and lasted three minutes. Police launched the assault because of reports that Mohamed-Aggad and Mostefaï had started killing hostages. Police using shields burst open the door to the room and exchanged fire with Mohamed-Aggad and Mostefaï while managing to pull the hostages one-by-one behind their shields. One terrorist detonated his explosive vest, and the other tried to do the same but was shot.
Ninety people were killed at the Bataclan on that night, and hundreds of others were wounded. Almost all of the deceased victims were killed within the first 20 minutes of the attack. All of the hostages were rescued without injury.
Police dog teams from the Brigade Cynophile assisted with body removal because of concerns that there could still be live explosives in the theatre. Identification and removal of the bodies took 10 hours, a process made difficult because some audience members had left their identity papers in the theatre's cloakroom.
Omar Ismael Mostefaï
The homegrown suicide bomber Omar Ismael Mostefaï was identified after his finger was found among the Bataclan concert hall carnage.
Mostefaï was born in the Paris suburb of Courcouronnes and had eight past convictions for petty crimes. He is said to have been radicalised by a Belgian hate preacher at a mosque in France.
The Jihadist was buried in the Cimetière Parisien de Thiais
located in Val-de-Marne.
