It is the seat of the Bishop of Verdun. Several buildings were erected and destroyed on this site, until in 990 Bishop Heimon ordered the construction of a new cathedral on the Romano-Rhenish plan: a nave, two transepts, two opposing apses, each one flanked by two belltowers. In the 12th century the architect Garin built the east choir, the two portals of Saint John and of the Lion, and the crypts. The building was consecrated by Pope Eugene III in 1147. The cloister seems also to have been built at about this time, close to a ravine. Refurbished in Flamboyant Gothic, Renaissance and later Neoclassical and Rococo styles; badly damaged in WWI.