The Bourges Cathedral

Bourges is a charming, medieval town located at the exact geographic center of France, and as such considered the spiritual hub of the country. Its cathedral, St. Etienne, rises on the site that was sacred to the Celtic kingdom of the Bituriges, who lived there since the 7th century BC.

The Bourges Cathedral is one of the masterpieces of the Gothic architecture, a style that art historians take for granted, without asking the fundamental questions: How come the Gothic appears suddenly, without any period of experiment, and in just a few years reaches its climax? How come the completely new and revolutionary style that appeared so fully developed, suddenly has enough master architects, craftsmen, and builders at its disposal to execute the construction of almost eighty huge edifices in only hundred years—between 1130 and 1230?

The answer to what I call “the mystery of Gothic” can be found in the story of an organization that shaped the history of Western civilization to a degree we are not aware of—the Knights Templar. It is speculated that the original band of nine Knights brought from Jerusalem, and more specifically from their digging under the Temple of Solomon, a certain knowledge. A part of it was the principles of sacred geometry—a metaphysical postulates that particular proportions embody a resonance with divine harmony.

Walking into this cathedral one cannot but feel the effect of these principles: free of internal enclosures, the interior of the cathedral explodes like a massive forest of pillars, the canopy of which meets in the vaulting at an astonishing height of 115 feet. The whole interior is bathed in soft, evenly distributed light. As we walked in that afternoon, we were blown away by the blast of organ music that hurled mighty sound throughout the vast interior.
​
Imagine: space, light, and sound, unified in this architecture, at the very moment when we stepped in...

But the Bourges Cathedral is special in another way. It is located above the crossing of the earth energy currents. The places of crossing, called the nodes, are powerful energy sites. Combined with the architecture embodying geometric proportions that reflect celestial geometry, these places are perfect settings for the communion with the divine. Which is what happened to me in this cathedral.