Noyon - Cathedral

The "Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Noyon" is, like the just seen cathedral in Laon, obe of the early Gothic churches in Northern France. The building process started in 1145,so this structure is probably the second oldest Gothic cathedral in France (Sens may be a decade older). It replaced a Romanesque church, that had burnt down in 1131.

The cathedral was the seat of the Bishopric of Noyon upto 1801. It got severely damaged during the French Revolution. The structure was "propriété nationale" after the revolution and it was tried to sell it. As nobody was interested in the church, it was used by the parish again from 1799 on. During WWI the cathedral got bombed. The burning roof structure collapsed and large parts of the vaulting got destroyed on 1. April 1918. It took decades to rebuilt and restore the cathedral.

The interior length of the cathedral is 103m. The height of the vaulting is 23m.