Cathédrale Saint-Étienne de Bourges

This Gothic cathedral is celebrated for its unusual design without transepts, giving the interior an uninterrupted sweep of soaring arcades. Its west front carries five deep sculpted portals, and much of its thirteenth-century stained glass survives intact. An astronomical clock and a Romanesque crypt lie beneath the choir. A distinctive detail is the double row of flying buttresses supporting the exceptionally tall inner vessel, an engineering solution that allowed the architects to flood the interior with coloured light from the high windows.