Le Mans Cathedral

The striking silouette of Le Mans Cathedral still dominates the city, as it did in the 12th century. Although the choir, with its spectacular forked flying buttresses, is early 13th century, the nave was given its present form in the 1150s when the city belonged to the Plantagenets, and was solemnly dedicated in 1158 in the presence of Henry II and his court. The aisle walls, incorporated from the previous building, are almost entirely 11th century, their slightly uneven texture and striped light and dark stone details contrasting with the perfect surfaces and exquisitely carved capitals of the blond 12th-century limestone. Medieval patrons and architects always preserved as much as possible from previous buildings, partly because of their immense veneration for the past, but also because it was cheaper to re-use material: building a Gothic cathedral was an immensely expensive undertaking.

The nave of Le Mans is grandly spacious, very typical of the west of France. The striking domes of the big, square vaults, each covering a double bay, reflect the local Romanesque tradition, But Le Mans also contained elements of the new Gothic style; with the ribbing in its vaults, alternating arcades of simple columns and massive piers, and slightly tentative flying buttresses, the nave resembles the cathedral of Sens, one of France's oldest Gothic buildings, to the south of Paris.

The south porch was modelled on the Portail Royale at Chartres. Elegant figures of Old Testament kings and queens, dressed exactly as Eleanor or Henry would have been, flank the portal. Above, the figure of Christ in Majesty implacably pronounces the Last Judgement. The whole entrance was originally painted in bright red, blue and gold, like a wall painting, or a page of manuscript coming to vibrant, gaudy, three-dimensional life.