In the novel La Cathédrale published in 1897, Joris-Karl Huysmans attempted to understand the phenomenon of the Gothic cathedral, using the example of Notre-Dame at Chartres. The article shows how the author's interpretations are based on the 19^th-century thought, and what their sources were.
Huysmans saw Gothic cathedrals as a religious phenomenon, which was contradictory to the tradition introduced by Victor Hugo. While analyzing the symbolism of the architecture as well as the iconography of the sculptures and stained-glass windows, he followed the 19^th-century archaeology and Christian iconography which attached symbolic meaning to all the elements present in the church. He referred to numerous medieval sources, considering them with equal attention, no matter when they were created. Therefore the novel is the result of the 19^th-century way of thinking, as opposed to Emile Mâle's book L'art religieux du XIII^e siècle en France.