There is a closely guarded secret of french churches and has its roots in the origins of these same structures. In the ancient provinces of Champagne, Picardy, Ile-de-France and Neustria, the dedicated Gothic cathedrals and Notre Dame, built between the 12th and 13th centuries, correspond to the constellation of Virgo, exactly as seen in the sky.
Le churches dedicated to the virgin and widespread in French territory, they represent, in fact, a projection of the sky and more precisely that of the celestial constellation of the same name.
The link between churches and heaven, moreover, has not escaped the most attentive throughout the centuries; The writer Maurice Leblanc had recounted how the Benedictine abbeys of Caux drew on the ground, by arrangement, the image of the Big Dipper, while the historian Enrico Guidoni had highlighted how the Miracles of Pisa complex was a faithful reproduction of the three main stars of the Aries constellation.
This connection between the location of religious buildings near the stars is actually justified by the medieval philosophy he believed. the cosmos is the work of god. And the cathedrals of France from this point of view are the perfect projection of the universe, exploited precisely through Gothic architecture.
Gothic cathedrals are authentic chests full of treasures, some of which are still difficult to understand today. The majesty, greatness and mysteries that have always characterized them have made an entire legends series, mysterious stories and meanings that revolve around the history of Christianity, the Knights Templar and the Holy Grail.
But the location of some of these buildings, near the stars, it is a fact. In fact, looking at the French cathedrals, it is clear that they all follow a well-established design, and that is that of the Virgo Constellation, one of the largest in the sky. The Spiga, that is the brightest star in the constellation, as well as the fifteenth brightest in the night sky, is represented by Reims Cathedral.
The façade, characterized by cusps, pinnacles, aedicules and towers, leads exactly there, to the central portal where the Annunciation is sculpted. Due to its high symbolic value, the Cathedral was bombed several times by the Germans during the First World War.
Following the constellation, where the stars with the weakest brightness are found, correspond the cathedrals of Rouen y Our Lady of L'Epine, this last splendid testimony of flamboyant Gothic art, recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.
The terrestrial design of the constellation continues with the other churches: the star Galla corresponds to Chartres, the Zeta to Amiens and the Epsilon to Bayeux, while the other small stars of the constellation are found coinciding with the cathedrals of Evreux, Etampes and Laon .
