The oldest stained glass company lives in Chartres!

Ever since I started teaching my Online French Immersion Courses based on Chartres (ma nouvelle ville) activities this January 2021, my online students have been meeting with well established and impressive locals : Catherine Schnœbelen créatrice de sa marque Schop Éditions, Olivier L’Hostis le directeur de la sublime librairie (attention faux-ami! Une librairie n’est pas a library!) L’Esperluète, Olivier Brelot the owner of le restaurant L’Estocade, Émilie Dame Biscuit a wonderful chef pâtissière, et last but not least the amazing woman I’m about to share with you : Élodie Vally, the proud owner of la Maison Lorin, le plus vieil atelier de vitrail de France created in 1863, still alive and thriving today, grâce à Élodie! In this week’s blog post we’ll also talk about Chartres’s stain glass et bien sûr, la divine et world famous cathédrale! 

 

Dans les deux derniers blogposts, nous avons d’abord parlé de l’histoire et de l’évolution de la haute gastronomie en France depuis le règne de Louis XIV (oh non you missed it? Pas de panique : click HERE) puis du passé artisanal de Chartres via a super cool local print screen artist (oh la la don’t tell me you missed that one also! Pas de panique : click HERE)

 

All Online French Immersion Courses are sold out so, if you haven’t already done so, GET ON THE WAITING LIST as I will open new ones très très bientôt and then you’ll be first to know before I share the sign up information with everyone else!

 

Notre-Dame de la belle verrière

 

Pourquoi surnomme-t-on la cathédrale de Chartres la bible de verre? Parce qu’elle possède 176 verrières du XIIIe siècle soit à peu près 2600 m² ou 28000 ft².

 

Il n’y a plus qu’à Chartres que vous pouvez voir autant de verrières entières datant du XIIe siècle. En effet, les autres cathédrales ont subi les dommages des guerres alors qu’à Chartres, les vitraux avaient été déposés et préservés.

 

Et même si la basilique de Saint-Denis peut s’enorgueillir d’un panneau antérieur aux verrières de Chartres, la cathédrale beauceronne vous offre quatre verrières datant de ce milieu du XIIe siècle.

 

 

Une de ces quatre verrières est mondialement connue et s’appelle Notre-Dame de la belle verrière. Elle fait partie des 175 représentations de Marie présentes dans la cathédrale! Son bleu roman, limpide et lumineux, est appelé le bleu de Chartres. Elle fut réalisée dans le style roman en 1180 et miraculeusement survécut à l’incendie de 1194. En observant le vitrail, vous pouvez remarquer la différence entre le bleu plus clair de la robe de la vierge, le fameux bleu de Chartres, et le bleu du reste du vitrail, plus sombre. Ici, c’est l’oxyde de cobalt qui donne cette couleur bleue au verre avec différentes nuances dans l’épaisseur du verre et surtout, de minuscules bulles qui accentuent la clarté du verre. Ce bleu incomparable ressort de manière encore plus éclatante grâce au rouge du fond du vitrail.

 

Chartres, la capitale du vitrail dès le Moyen-Âge

 

Comme le berceau de l’art gothique est l’Île-de-France, la plupart des maîtres verriers se trouvaient à proximité de cette région. Il est évident que les ateliers étaient principalement installés dans des villes où les commandes étaient susceptibles d’être les plus nombreuses. Ainsi, Chartres, ville importante sur le plan théologique grâce à ses pèlerinages, a été un point central pour l’établissement de ces ateliers.

 

En 1194 suite à l’incendie de la cathédrale, les commandes ont afflué. Les ateliers ont donc travaillé intensément et ceci explique la diversité des styles rencontrés dans les vitraux de la cathédrale. D’autre part, la paix qui régnait dans la région de Chartres et la proximité des grandes cathédrales gothiques d’Île-de-France, ont favorisé la pérennisation d’ateliers censés n’être que temporaires. Ainsi, Chartres est devenue puis est restée un grand centre dans cette production artistique.

 

La cathédrale de Chartres aujourd’hui

 

 

En 1979, la cathédrale de Chartres est devenue la première de France inscrite au patrimoine mondial de l’UNESCO : United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.

 

Voici une mini introduction de l’évêque de Chartres Monseigneur Philippe Christory, such a kind and generous bishop :

 

 

Qu’avez-vous compris?

 

L’histoire de la maison Lorin

 

La Maison Lorin fut fondée en 1863 par Nicolas Lorin, maître verrier originaire de la Meuse. En 1867, Il rachète le site de la tannerie de la ville à la famille Brochand tanneurs à Chartres depuis plusieurs siècles, situé au 46 rue de la tannerie sur les bords de l’Eure. Des vestiges de l’activité première demeurent sur place, par exemple les cuves pour tanner le cuir. La tour d’exposition est dressée sur les anciens remparts de la ville. Depuis 1863 et au fil des générations, la Maison Lorin a réalisé de très nombreux chantiers en France et à l’étranger. Ses gérants successifs ont participé également à grand nombre d’expositions et remporté des distinctions partout dans le monde.

 

Nicolas Lorin

 

Nicolas Lorin est né en 1833 dans la Meuse et est mort en 1882 à Chartres. Il gère l’atelier Lorin de 1863 à 1882 et crée une succursale au 102 rue du cherche midi (Paris 6ème) en 1875. Il a trois enfants avec sa femme : Hélène (1865- 1938), Charles (1866- 1940) et Charlotte (1880- 1959). Il collabore avec Charles Crauk à partir de 1868.

 

Veuve Lorin et Charles Crauck

 

À la mort de son père, Charles n’a que 16 ans. Sa mère s’occupe de l’atelier avec Charles Crauk de 1882 à 1902 puis Charles récupère l’entreprise en 1902. La succursale parisienne est toujours en activité. Charles Crauk est également professeur à l’Ecole des Beaux Art d’Amiens et professeur à l’Ecole spéciale militaire de Saint Cyr.

 

Charles Lorin

 

Charles est né en 1866 et est mort en 1940. Il épouse la fille d’Alfred Piébourg, architecte de la ville de Chartres avec qui il a deux enfants : Étienne (1898-1917) et François (1900- 1972). Il forme (he trains) un autre grand nom du vitrail à Chartres : Gabriel Loire (1904-1996). Dans la vidéo ci-dessous, vous verrez son fils Jacques Loire maintenant âgé de 88 ans, still as creative and inspiring as ever :

 

 

François Lorin

 

François est né en 1900 et est mort en 1972. Le frère de sa femme, étudiant en architecture, était destiné à récupérer l’atelier mais il meurt au front en Belgique en 1917 à l’âge de 19 ans. François développe à l’atelier la technique de la mosaïque et de la dalle de verre.

 

Hermet et Juteau

 

En 1973, Gérard Hermet et Jacques Juteau rachètent les ateliers Lorin avec les salariés suite au décès de François Lorin.

 

Élodie Vally

 

 

Click HERE to watch an absolutely stunning video qui vous présentera la maison Lorin avec Élodie et son équipe, mais aussi la maison Loire mentionnée plus haut. Rappelez-vous que Charles Lorin avait formé Gabriel Loire.

 

En 2004, Élodie intègre la Maison Lorin comme ouvrier spécialisé.

 

En 2016, elle rachète l’entreprise en 2016 avec deux autres associés. Ils montent ensemble un projet de sauvegarde du fond Lorin en collaboration avec la mairie de Chartres. 

 

Depuis 2019, Élodie dirige seule l’atelier et emploie une équipe de collaborateurs choisis pour la qualité de leurs compétences techniques. Elle réalise également de nombreuses recherches dans les archives du fond Lorin en collaboration avec la mairie de Chartres comme en témoigne la vidéo ci-dessous :

 

 

And now it’s your turn so let us know in the comment section!

 

Parmi ces 20 cathédrales françaises, lesquelles avez-vous déjà vues?

Avez-vous une ou des préférées et si oui pourquoi?

Qu’est-ce qui vous a particulièrement touché?

Que ressentez-vous dans une église?

Est-ce que vous les fréquentez souvent?

Une en particulier?

Connaissez-vous la différence entre une église et une cathédrale?

Aimez-vous visiter les monuments? Quels types de monuments?

Quels sont les monuments que vous n’avez pas encore eu l’opportunité de visiter mais qui se trouvent sur votre liste? En France? Ailleurs?

 

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Learn French online with Virginie

Join French Truly’s online immersion course and online school, either by buying the French online course(s) of your choice or by becoming a monthly member. See more details about the membership at the bottom of this page.

Each French online course is packed with video & audio files along with written material, to make it as fun, easy, and user friendly as possible for you! Come and learn French online with me!

 

French online immersion course about Chartres, France

Come to France anyway!

You want to go to France but covid decided you couldn’t travel right now? Maybe you have plans that keep getting postponed? How frustrating! I hear you. We know it’s going to get better but we don’t know when! So, instead of lamenting over an uncertain future, how about we make the present moment a little bit French… online? Who says because you’re stuck at home you can’t immerse yourself in the French language and culture? Join me and all my wonderful French guests in a small online group for 4 consecutive weeks!

I just moved to Chartres, the most charming French city only an hour away from Paris, and until you can come join us here in person, I’m going to share all I can of my new dreamy home with you online!

Intermediate level students

SOLD OUT 2021 Jan 16, 23, 30, Feb 6 – 6pm French time
SOLD OUT 2021 Jan 25, Feb 1, 8, 15 – 6pm French time
NEW DATES COMING SOON JOIN THE WAITING LIST

Beginner level students

SOLD OUT 2021 Jan 24, 31, Feb 7, 14 – 6pm French time
NEW DATES COMING SOON JOIN THE WAITING LIST

If you’re unsure which level you are, contact me to schedule a free Skype call

 

Benefits

• Improve your French conversational skills in a completely safe & friendly environment with me and my amazing French guests who I am selecting because they represent true Chartres landmarks : art historians, chefs, entrepreneurs, artisans, pâtissiers, etc. all passionate experts in their own fields.
• Practice speaking & listening to French while learning about the French culture. This will ensure a rich discussion as well as expand your French vocabulary.
• Learn French grammar & conjugation in a natural way thanks to a practical context.
• Relax knowing that I’m here to manage our time together and make sure everyone gets a fair opportunity to participate.
• Discover Chartres, my new gorgeous city, with me! I very recently moved to this little piece of heaven and I am beyond excited to explore and share all I can with you!
• Bask in French traditions & history in medieval Chartres, an endless source of fascinating stories.So, if you’re feeling a strong “OUI” for this, just click on the appropriate sign up button right below!

French online book club

You want to improve your French, become smarter, and hang out avec moi et un livre court, hilarant, facile à comprendre, et superbement bien écrit?

Join me and other French / Francophone book lovers to read, discuss, and converse together on our live Online French Book Club!

SOLD OUT 2021 Jan 5, 12, 19, 26, Feb 2 – 6pm French time
NEW DATES COMING SOON JOIN THE WAITING LIST

 

Benefits

• Improve your French comprehension skills in a completely safe & friendly environment with me and Amélie’s amazing stories, hilarious plots, unique sense of humor, delectable vocabulary, flawless syntax.
• Practice reading, speaking, and listening to French while bursting out laughing at every page. This will ensure a rich discussion as well as expand your French vocabulary and sentence structure.
• Learn French grammar & conjugation in a natural way thanks to a practical context.
• Relax knowing that I’m here to manage our time together and make sure everyone gets a fair opportunity to participate.
• If you don’t already know Amélie Nothomb, discover a fabulous author able to share a piece of life with you as she’s written 28 books! I guess if you’re good, we could just continue with another one of her books when this first course est terminé!

 

French online course #1: 600 WORDS

In this course, you will find 15 videos (+ 10 bonus ones) to help & accompany you every step of the way through the course + for each word, each sentence, each expression, each conjugated verb, I have created an audio file of my voice, slow and slightly faster speed. Your French language learning experience has never been so easy, fun, and fruitful. You can learn French online and benefit from the flexibility working at your own pace offers, while having me with you the whole time.

 

Did you know…

You can converse (speak + understand) in French with only 600 WORDS?

The average French person only uses between 300 & 3,000 WORDS?

This means that if you can master a relatively short list of words, you’ll be able to express yourself like the average French person! Plus you’re much more likely to understand the French when they talk back to you!

 

This course will teach you…

1- How to speak French

2- How to pronounce French

3- How to make French sentences

4- How to conjugate all the most common French verbs

5- How to polish your results

6- How to self evaluate your French

More info HERE

• It should take you about 30 hours to complete this course, which is made up of 10 lessons
• This course is designed for a beginner / intermediate level. If you are intermediate but feel like you could really reinforce your foundations, you will love it.
• You can join whenever, either by buying the course or by becoming a monthly member giving you access to my French online courses from $10 / month. See more details about the membership at the bottom of this page

 

Online course # 2: PERFECT PRONUNCIATION

In this course you will find 11 videos + 150 audio files + 92 pages PDF format to help & accompany you every step of the way throughout the course. In some parts of the videos, my face will appear close up and profile so you can easily see how I make these sounds with my mouth. The 150 audio files are composed of the 100 most popular French words and the 50 most common French phrases. They are recordings of my voice, speaking slowly enough so you can easily grasp every syllable. Your French language learning experience has never been so easy, fun, and fruitful. You can learn French online and benefit from the flexibility working at your own pace offers, while having me with you the whole time.

NB: if you are the proud owner of my previous French online course 600 WORDS, don’t worry, this is not a repeat as we are now exploring 1 letter words and up, whereas in 600 WORDS we began at 4 letter words and up.

 

Combine knowledge with confidence…

For you to be able to have a pleasant and efficient conversation with a French person, one thing is key… can you guess what it is? Confidence! How well do you think you will communicate in French if you don’t feel confident about your accent? If you are scared that people won’t understand you? Or even worse if you think someone might make fun of you? Without a minimum of confidence there is no room for communication. Yet if you feel confident, you can afford to make a few mistakes here and there because people will still understand you. What prevents a conversation from happening isn’t just a lack of knowledge, it’s also a lack of confidence. You need to have both to make it work, not to mention, to make it fun!

 

This course will teach you…

1- How to pronounce every letter of the alphabet

2- How to pronounce every digraph & trigraph

3- How to make every French sentence flow

4- How to pronounce the 100 most popular French words

5- How to pronounce the 50 most popular French phrases

6- How to avoid the pronunciation mistakes everyone makes

More info HERE

• It should take you about 20 to 2 hours to complete this course, which is made up of 11 lessons
• This course is designed for a beginner level. If you are intermediate but lack confidence when it comes to talking and feel like you could really benefit from focusing on pronunciation, you will love it.
• You can join whenever, either by buying the course or by becoming a monthly member giving you access to my French online courses from $10 / month. See more details about the membership below 

 

Online course # 3: FRENCH DICTÉES

 

In the FRENCH DICTÉES online course you will find 20 videos + 10 audio files to help & accompany you every step of the way throughout the course. Why 20 videos? Because there are 10 dictées in total, each focusing on one particular topic, and for each dictée I have prepared 2 videos. Let’s say the video focuses on both French past tenses called imparfait & passé composé. The first video will go though the grammar, the conjugation, and all the tips on these two past tenses to help you understand and remember how and when to use them. The second video will be the actual dictée, a short story written by me, describing everyday life situations conveniently packed with imparfait and passé composé verbs! Boom! Efficient! The dictée will also be read by me, slowly first and then a little faster, with a close up on my face so you can more easily recognize the words and copy the shapes I make to improve your own pronunciation.

 

Become a French language expert

How do you become an expert at anything? By focusing on one thing at a time.

I’ve made sure to categorize and isolate either a verb tense, a verb group, a grammar or vocabulary topic per dictée, so you can effectively focus and interiorize concepts separately, which makes it a lot easier to remember them.

 

Here’s what you’re going to learn

What grammar & conjugation points will each dictée focus on?

Dictée # 1: Present tense

Dictée # 2: Past tenses – imparfait & passé composé

Dictée # 3: Future tenses – futur proche & futur simple

Dictée # 4: Conditional, imparfait, asking questions

Dictée # 5: Imperative form

Dictée # 6: First group verbs all tenses

Dictée # 7: Second group verbs all tenses

Dictée # 8: Third group verbs all tenses

Dictée # 9: Numbers

Dictée # 10: Prepositions

Each dictée is a short story written by me about practical everyday life situations. This means that not only do you get to work on conjugation & grammar drills, but you also improve your conversational skills at the same time: a magic combination for your next trip to France!

 

Grow your confidence talking about practical everyday topics

The dictées will refer to common topics that you are very likely to hear or very likely to use to express yourself such as:

-Traveling to France

-Socializing

-Childhood memories

-Family dynamics

-Everyday life routines

-How to express your ideas, opinions, and dreams

 

Two videos per dictée

First video: key grammar and conjugation reminders explained very clearly so you feel prepared and confident entering each dictée.

Second video: the actual dictée. I’ve made sure to categorize and isolate either a verb tense, a verb group, a grammar or vocabulary topic, so you can effectively focus and interiorize concepts separately, which makes it a lot easier to remember them.

 

And for you challenge lovers over-achievers?

Yes I have prepared something just for you! I have also made 10 audio files, 1 per dictée, so that if you wish to, if you want it extra difficult, if you want to test yourself more deeply, you can solely rely on sound. Indeed there are many occasions in life where we hear a language but we don’t see it: speaking to someone on the phone or listening to the radio for instance.

 

20 videos? 10 audio files? What else?

This new FRENCH DICTÉES online course also comes with written files with both the French text along with the English translation, so that you can evaluate yourself when you’re done taking notes.

To summarize, you’ll be able to use video, audio, and written material.

 

Dictées worked for me, they’ll work for you!

Let me tell you, I LOVE dictées because THEY WORK. And clearly you realize this too and that is smart of you. So now let’s see how something as simple as a dictée can truly help you become a little bit French! Your French language learning experience has never been so easy, fun, and fruitful. You can learn French online and benefit from the flexibility working at your own pace offers, while having me with you the whole time.

 

Become a monthly member!

My goal is to transform your French language learning experience. This is why I’ve decided to offer you a new way to learn French online and gain access to the French Truly Online School! Actually, more than 1 new way, you’ll have 3 plans to choose from so come and learn French online with me!