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.

It took about 10 years to complete the choir, seen here. It once had stained glass windows. Some were destroyed by the vandals of the Revolution, the remaining got lost when the church got bombed and the vaulting collapsed in 1918.