The windows of the upper choir

Installed between 1255 and 1267, the stained-glass windows of the upper choir form one of the finest ensembles among French cathedrals. They read like a book open on the history of the Church.

The harmony of the colours, the pictorial quality, the historical accuracy and the narrative character of the story bear witness to the great skill of the workshops of Tours, while the style recalls that of the Parisian workshops and of the workshops of western France.

The composition of narrative medallions is airy, designed to be read from a distance. It is broken by two windows with bands of colour, alternating full-length figures (bishops of Tours and canons of Loches) with bands of grisaille.

The cathedral of Tours is regarded as a key monument in the development of the art of stained-glass, heralding the new type of composition found in cathedrals and major churches at the end of the 13th century and during the 14th century.

Windows of the apse of the upper choir, with 13th-century blue and red stained-glass

List of the windows of the upper choir

Signage for the stained-glass windows of the choir and the radiating chapels is in place in the ambulatory. Some twenty explanatory panels give visitors a high-quality reproduction of the various windows.
To follow the iconography properly, read the windows from left to right and from bottom to top.

  • Legends of Saint Thomas and Saint Stephen View
  • Legends of Saint Denis and Saint Vincent View
  • Legend of Saint Nicholas View
  • Genesis View
  • The bishops of Tours View
  • Legend of Saint Peter View
  • Legend of Saint Maurice View
  • The Passion of Christ View
  • The Tree of Jesse and the Childhood of Christ View
  • The legend of Saint Martin View
  • The canons of Loches View
  • Legend of Saint Martial View
  • Legend of Saint James the Great View
  • Legends of Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist View
  • Legend of Saint Eustace or Saint Hubert View

The restoration of the choir

Visitors are struck by the beauty of the work, especially since its restoration, which brought back its original decoration. After eight years of work, in 2002 the vaults regained their 13th-century ochre colour and the stained-glass windows their visibility and brilliance. The windows have also been given the protection of external glazing that withstands weather and mechanical damage, and whose special treatment reproduces the outline of the medieval window on it. This process was developed by a master glassmaker from Tours and has been applied to all cathedrals for the protection of their stained-glass.