Engineering the Impossible: Chartres Cathedral

[iLOVENATURE2011]

very informative... i learned a lot from this video...

[armand6735]

pas de version en français dommage!

armand6735

[armand6735]

pour pas en français merci

armand 6735

[lovelplants]

wow.. nice.. but they don't know who he is? LOL.. why they didn't ask?

[crudeoilsystems]

well done production

[Water4Jeremiah]

I just think it's remarkable that all that work, labor, money, time, and patience went into creating a building dedicated to a deity that doesn't exist.

[sonicnumber11]

@Water4Jeremiah You are such an atheist. I understand that you don't believe in God. What I don't understand is that you'd be so rude as to post that type of comment. The way I see it, believe is like a health plan; it's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it. In other words you might believe in God and he might not exist, but if you did not believe and he does exists than your going to hell.

PS. I will not respond to any message you send me.

[Water4Jeremiah]

@sonicnumber11 I read very carefully what you said and decided it's about time I started believing in a god...just kidding.

"I will not respond to any message you send me."

Perhaps Dr. House, M.D. can answer it better than I can. (watch?v=92Im6yyrdGs) Of course you're not going to respond to rational arguments, otherwise you wouldn't be believing in a god.

As for these cathedrals, they are amazing achievements of human engineering. I refuse to destroy them - they should be art museums.

[sonicnumber11]

@Water4JeremiahI guess I have to break my code.

What got me to answer was your following statement "Of course you're not going to respond to rational arguments, otherwise you wouldn't be believing in a god." I am not an irrational person; in fact I believe in the Big Bang Theory, The evolution of species and other topics that are controversial.

To clarify I was not trying to get you to believe in God as implied by you. I was trying to instill a sense of respect for the people who do believe.

[Water4Jeremiah]

@sonicnumber11 Your heart is in the right place and you maybe older, but I am smarter than you. So what if you believe in the Big Bang and Evolution? They are just human words we place on a naturally occurring event to be able to communicate it. But you know what's needed in communication? Honesty. That's what you lack. There's no god. Never was. When you wish to instill in me a sense of respect for people who believe a lie, you betray any honesty in you since no god existed in the first place.

[sonicnumber11]

@Water4Jeremiah I wish not to continue this argument. I will not waste my time on people who will not respect a fundamental human behavior. I may or may not believe in a lie, but I will tell you this, It's what I've been taught through my life and I believe it to be the truth. I am a very honest person, but you may believe otherwise, as you are entitled to your own opinions of things. As you also have the right to believe what ever you please. Thank you, and good luck Sir. My regards.

[Water4Jeremiah]

@sonicnumber11 And the bible even says that every man is righteous in his own eyes. Of course you think that applies to both of us, but what if it was written to deceive the believers into demanding respect from anyone says honestly god doesn't exist.

As an atheist, I say simply there's no evidence for god's existence. And I must admit if an otherwordly alien were watching us, they'd be laughing at the both of us since neither of us are very honest compared to whatever the truth really is.

[sonicnumber11]

@Water4Jeremiah By the way. No one is more or less than any one else. You remember that, and you'll save yourself the trouble. Because although you lack a believe system, you must not lack moral.

[panjak42]

@Water4Jeremiah you are a douche

[xSOV1ETx]

i build one in my back yard yesterday 

[piazzola08]

: )

[XBAGREMX]

BULL SHIT....

[gelfddelfg]

"the circle..square..and triangle..are uniquely harmonies.." why don't put 'the cross' too then you have playstation console

[ShowmetheBlues]

doesnt anyone else think the previous design looks like a penis?

i think that they changed the design cause it looked like a penis

just too embarrased to say it or write it down in history

they used a random beggar and gave him the idea of changing it

high five

[crushthechurch]

Should demolish it and make a car park or Mcdonalds, that way it would serve a real purpose.

[comeonloser]

@crushthechurch even if you don't believe it you still have to appreciate the art

[bonetista2]

@crushthechurch AMERICANS, ASSHOLES OF THE WORLD...

[ericsantiago011]

u know if you really study bible... triangle that is sign of devil... and with eye...so if church have that... possitve,,the church is anti christ... he is a false phropet,,, he will cloth him self in a nice and beautiful clothe but inside of him he is evil... turning people to wrong way,.

[beeble2003]

It's all very well claiming that the key shapes are the circle, the square and the equilateral triangle (2:38) but cutting a square along its diagonals (3:13) gives right-angled, not equilateral triangles!

[Stefan9519]

The impossible part? are you kidding me ? Simply the whole structure is close to impossible, it´s truley stunning, how they mange to build this magnificent cathedral during the medival era (without using machines or other necessities)... that´s just a little part of the "impossible". secondly the architect was obviously very sensible and well educated, he saw the connection between the three simple shapes and made a brilliant work out of that.. that kid is the impossible :D

[Mrthestyle1]

so, wheres the impossible part, i just saw that a mysterious guy made a big church with simple shapes :l

[BeakyRed]

3:17 and here we haz de X TRIANGLE SQUARE and CIRCLE

THE FOUR SHAPES OF TEH PLy stationzzzZ11111!1!!one

[fronkenpoop]

I wood say cafeedral is eesy to bild wif 3d compoota prugrams.

[boazMarcus]

poor documentary

[kaa3164]

"the old cathedral was long an narrow"

It looks exactly like a penis.

And then They made it wider.

[Stefan9519]

This is really intressting though i find your language even more intressting. Some of you, not all though, uses really nice english and i´m owerjoyed to just read and try to remember some significant phrases.

I'm not from a english talking country and i'm just 15 and really intressed in the english language. I alos wish to learn more. Just saying =)

[jaalexis2002]

La grande France, grande soeur de l'Europe.

[JoelClarkArtist]

Interesting or downright typical how NG as a voice for the corporate elite would have us believe Chartres was the product of politics, the desire of a Bishop for "cutting edge" design, and not the great mystical and mysterious undertaking that it was, fuelled by a fervent love of the Blessed Virgin by an international populace from every level of society. The dark lords only know one mentality, that of Earthly Power. They attempt to obliterate all others.

[TheWilor19]

la catedral de chartres simboliza una mujer dando a luz o sea pariendo

[madeddi]

3 minutes inst really long enough to cover a topic like this. but still an interesting video.

[Taurshien]

Fascinating to think that these ignorant people where able to fabricate such wonders from such stupid ideas, like god actually living in the sky.

Example:People in this time wanted to be closer to heaven because they thought heaven was in clouds so they built the churches and cathedrals really tall and on high places like hills and if they could, mountains. Strange how these people thought that when the Inca thought their gods lived in the sky! 0\_/o

[madeddi]

@Taurshien they werent ignorant at all. you need to consider the construction and engineering aspects of something like this, and then you will realise how accomplished they were.

[lovellespice]

@Taurshien ignorant people? compared to whom.. you? do you understand pythagoras and euclid? explain to me the basic concepts of trigonometry without googling it.. build your own model cathedral from scratch.. THEN tell me who's ignorant.

[unapologeticmind]

@Taurshien No Christian believes that God lives in the sky or anywhere else in the universe for that matter...

[TheWilor19]

esta puta mierda no esta en español malparidos

[jorgecarrillo2]

@TheWilor19 y para que te apuras, mejor busca algo en español

[hrag500]

Fuck you!

[ijatherealnickman]

Circles...Squares...and Triangles.....oooooowwwww...we­eeeee

Just like every other building on the PLANET!!

[mariomanblue]

1:40 It's a penis?

[ohorok2]

@mariomanblue with condom

[iPwntNubs]

i see a penis lmao.

[bombz4327]

GOTTA MOVE THAT GEAR UP!

[gameplaya117]

Too bad god isnt real. Depends on your beliefs lol.

[TheRealAuxiliary]

@gameplaya117 Too bad you have no proof he doesn't or does.So it's in the middle...

[kijijikubwa]

they forgot the "X", now i'll go hit my ps2 as I still can't afford a ps3

[redletterchurch]

Consider the possibility of a luciferian origin for cathedral architecture. No proof - just a hunch.

[IndigoUtopico]

this was made with the arc of the covenant !!!

[striker300southpaw]

I love learning about the Architectural Engineering of Cathedrals. I don't think we would be building sky scrapers today if it weren't for that push during the middle ages to have the biggest and baddest looking Cathedral.

[gipcambero]

"The French style" as the english used to call it

[TimTrimT]

Prob with nat. geo. is the shallow nature of their excursions into engineering and science. Just when people are curious and want to go deeper, it's time for a commercial - after which they will repeat everything they just said for the ADD folks just tuning in.. *yawn*

[NoR00m4Error]

I know his full name...

[islandbuoy4]

also note the ASYMMETRY of the two spires...

also note that LEON LEDERMAN (physicist) compared these two spires to ASYMMETRY.

And Leon was referencing ASYMMETRY, which ONLY came to the forefront in 1956.

Just AFTER Einstein died. Too bad.

And Leon was discussing CP violation/ASYMMETRY unveiled JUST in 1956.

And it is clear that ASYMMETRY was intentionally built into the architecture of Chartres.

NOW GOOGLE

asymmetry DNA swastika

[islandbuoy4]

circle, square, triangle

see what you come up with after investigating Newton's MAIN hobby ...alchemy?

have I made my point?

what dimension does a point represent?

how about a line?

1 point>>2 line>>3 triangle>>4 square>>5 circle

What if 5 stages of geometric progression equals 5 dimensions?

...have a nice IGNORANT existence fella

Newton was no dummy but the herd of ewe are?

[dd452]

I love how he draws the circle, the square and the triangle in the air with his hands, just in case the retarded viewers wouldn't understand.

[GPat1974]

I like Nutella

[UCreateChange]

cool video. like the previous commenter, am impressed by the vision and skill used in building up the cathedral with minimal technology.

[plecavalier]

Visited the Cathedral 3 weeks ago, and it is quite an amazing Mediaval architectural structure, developed in so little time with next to no technology. I am not as expert as people leaving comments before me, but the other outstanding aspect is that it is still up, almost identical to the way it was about 1000 years ago --- most of our modern bridges and buidling struggle to last more than one century!

[heoquayhp]

what so impossible about this again?

[SOhio142]

it's a giant fucking intricate building made of fucking stone

[heoquayhp]

@SOhio142, yes it is intricate, it is a masterpiece, it is beautiful, but what what made it impossible?, was it built by ants?

There are many older amazing man made structure, which were equally as epic if not better. So i still not sure why is it "impossible", was it built by ants?

[MGR1900]

@SOhio142 You're very ignorant. You're colorful use of language is clearly not a substitute for your blatant ignorance about architecture and the construction technology they had at the time. You need to get off Youtube and get a life. Try kissing a girl sometime. You might like it. 

[seweroutlet]

Whoa a building based off fundamental shapes? Now I've seen it all.

[MesserschmittBf109g6]

Obviously the screwed up the delicate geometry of the gothic style, the prof. was right though, the gothic mind was obsessed with mainly the circle, and the right angled triangle that could be made out of three circles. This they obviously also screwed up as a ri.ang. triangle cant be made by dividing a square. To demonstrate the masterful geometry they should have shown eg the west rose window, not by superimposing some forms on a shitty groundplan, the geom. was much more complicated than that

[MesserschmittBf109g6]

I might also add that a square is of cause necessary in a building

[MGR1900]

@seweroutlet Dude, you need to get off Youtube and get our more.

[tterrajsirhc]

such bullshit.. all buildings are made of geometric shapes.. how fucking stupid do they think we are U_U

[redletterchurch]

Lucifer was a musician. Was Lucifer also an architect? Does Lucifer comment on YouTube?

[OPOCHKA]

You can always guarantee that National Geographic will completely fuck up an otherwise interesting program with the unwanted addition of their Mega-stupid audio and visual ...... " Effects "... to add drama.

[itchytf]

Here's a picture of a circle, square and triangle in case you've never seen them before.

[Ibenchyourmom]

I feel like i'm watching sesame street from 2:38 to 2:45

[Zazyr]

That's just a disgusting lie. The Church never "used the uneducated Irish people" for his gain. It never forced anyone to give his money to the Church. If people aid the Church, they do so because of their faith, not terror! You call yourself a catholic? You should be ashamed of yourself!

[nmatysiakj]

amen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!­!!!

[fidelis826]

Maybe they never explicitly FORCED people to give their money to the Church, but the Catholic church did have overwhelming power in Europe during the 14th - 15th Century until the spread of Lutheranism, Calvinism, and Protestantism... and they sold Indulgences to pay for the church to be built. They lied and manipulated the people by telling them that they needed to buy Indulgences in order to get themselves and past loved ones into Heaven. You may not consider that FORCING, but it's debatable.

[curinga53]

do you even know what Indulgences are?

[1theblacksmith1]

Fundamentalist pigs....Why would National Geografic lie? Oh, Wait..They dont, the ignaorance of your religion just blinds you.

[EkEMaN91]

I met an old italian man in the oldest street in Rome who said that he and a large amount of Italians hate the Pope and the catholic church because it's priests used to bully the populace into 'donating' to the church during WWII (if I remember correctly).

[Avieno]

By sure he was an stupid italian. To heat the actual Pope because a third (other priests) asked for the people to donate money 70 years ago is an act of an stupid person. I have met 250 italians that love the Pope.

[rodfan316]

well i have met a million italians that hate the french.

[dd452]

well, another italian, leonardo da vinci, prefered France and came here to spend the rest of his life.

[ZioZambe]

Learn english, then speak it.

[Avieno]

Learn fair behaviour, if not, shut up!

[ZioZambe]

Is "stupid italian" fair behaviour?

[frjimt9455]

funny, you remember the hatred, but forgot the war?.......

shows alot of character

[EkEMaN91]

Sorry that I am not completely sure if he was talking about WWI or WWII but seeing as I am human and do tend to forget things I'll forgive myself that. And how can you judge my character from the fact that I couldn't remember which of those two very close time periods the event was from? By that thinking I can judge your character by the fact that you think that it would actually make any kind of difference if it happened during the first or second world war.

[frjimt9455]

don't like what you've gotten.......

stop putting hateful comments up.......

and your latest response shows that you have little character remaining.

don't dispose of it all here........

use it for some other ignorant things you want to remember from one person you met on the streets of rome

[BillDFC]

I find it hard to believe that no one knows who the architect was.

[siptah]

a very interesting video. we live 100 metres from the cathedral of chartres and do not know it. thank you

[jpstenino]

A very informative study is "CHARTRES The masons who built a legend" by John James published by Routledge & Kegan Paul. It would be wonderful to explore Chartres with this book in hand.

ps it is out of print but worth finding.

[lovellespice]

@jpstenino the masons were discovered by the catholic church.. they were given gigs and paid good wages.. then they decided to separate from the managers due to "creative differences" and formed their own secret underground boy band

[Ahbelina]

How does one get to chartres? What is the nearest station

[Metadsign]

There is a Chartres train station! :) just down the cathedral.

[mkin88]

at first the church looked like a penis...lol

the cross shape is cool, but it depends which direction u look at it . i mean from another angle the cross is upside down

[plenty2see]

thats how bishops dressed in the middle ages , they ruled the fucken world of simpletons in those times , so they looked the part, would you do any work dressed like that,

[ClamLuvr]

plenty2see, Good point. And look at the way the Pope and the Bishops dress now. They rule the simpletons in the Catholic Church.

[plenty2see]

Ireland is a classic case of the catholic church , ruling the impovershed, steeling their money and making and keeping them poor and subsuvient to the church, although some Preists felt the guilt of what they were doing to the poor of Ireland

[Zazyr]

Great bunch of lies. I'm glad u didn't wrote that the bloodthirsty priests forced these people to give their very last money to the church...

[Zazyr]

All these morons, that try to insult the Catholic Church and all Catholics with pathetic lies should be ashamed of themselves. Europe was the greatest, and most rich part of the world thanks to the Catholic Faith, which drove it to true power and civilisation.

[plenty2see]

IM Catholic and wen to a Catholic primary school, why dont you look at what I said and think logically with reason, and come up with your own answer to what I say about the Irish church, they tithed the poor, and used the uneducated Irish people for the gain of the catholic church. the Catholic Church had state power and control for many years in Ireland

[ambactus]

I think he's wearing a cope, which wasn't necessarily always liturgical...

[Selerkala]

Where can I found this video complete?

[JaiiCii]

its find u fucking retard

[ceehof123]

Don't be so arrogant! You try to write in Spanish then, without any mistake and show us how perfect you are. English is not the only world language. P.S. It is "YOU fucking retard" if you want to be SO correct.

[pyramidheadkitten9]

@ceehof123 hey man, do you spic a da english?

[ClamLuvr]

JaiiCii. You are harassing another person for not writing perfectly. Okay, let's list the errors in your reply.

1. The first is is misspelled.

2. The first word should be capitalized.

3. The third word is misspelled.

4. There should be a period at the end of the sentence.

Well JaiiCii, it seems that you are the person who is the fucking retard.

[ClamLuvr]

JaiiCii. Oops. I made a mistake (on purpose) in my reply. I guess that means I am a retard too. Hey everybody, let's all try to be retards just lik JaiiCii. We can all be one big happy retard family and JaiiCii can be the head retard.

[FilmPA]

I haven't know. Try looked into the internet yesterday.

[Selerkala]

Thank you. O gracias...

[FilmPA]

You're very welcome

[sansserifim]

it's don't you moron

[Elite1987]

who cares

[driftability]

Well if youve played playstation you would know.

[driftability]

Wheres the X?.

[jerzkid87]

what do you mena exactly?

[perroespi]

Es un buen video que aporta elementos para la investigacion de los misterios del Arte Real de la Construccion.Desde el Uruguay,saludos de ANGEL

[eldominicanboy]

loco, de verdad tenias q darle a to el mundo tu nombre y tu pais??? a nadie le importa eso coño

[OOPSIEOOPSIE]

A pretty pointless video imo.

[stamman2]

My favorite cathedral in the world...

[qazqashire]

PLEASE, UPLOAD THE ENTIRE DOCU! :)

[jerzkid87]

"The circle is a sacred symbol of purity"

- ok thats true. because a point is the most elementary shape and symbol distinguishing something from nothing. the circle is a line surrounding the point distant at a standard length around the dot. that symbolizes separateness of an individual from other non nothing others.

[jerzkid87]

so that makes sense but then.... "outside a circle can be drawn a perfect square" of course you can!!!

duh. you could draw a perfect looney toons haracter also. the square is arbitrary and you could inscribe a circle into any regular polygon and still touch tangentially.

[zztsumasaki]

lol

[jerzkid87]

oh and its funny too... i just noticed how if you "diagonally bisect the perfect square [btw- perfect square? all squares are perfect otherwise they are just rhomboids!] we arrive at four triangles"... not four equilateral triangles!!! notice that in the diagram when the yellow trace e.triangle is superimposed over the crossing it doesnt actually match up! lol (3:32)

[eldominicanboy]

wow its true lol

[haquearsh1]

5th, but still, awesome video!

[TheEleventhMoon]

Yall counting comments are silly. This is a good video!! THankyou for adding it. This is one of the best videos on this subject on Youtube and definatly a favorite Cathedral

[Lovemykitten]

3th!!!!!!!!!!

[kh2freek]

3th? Greatest use of the English Language I've ever seen.

[Flashwarior]

3th lawl

[010110010]

2nd!!!!!