Orléans Cathedral: Interior, nave looking towards altar

Date

Circa 1910

The seat of the Bishop of Orléans. The first building was burnt in 989. A second building, one of the biggest in France, was built in the 11th-12th century, following the plan of the great pilgrimage churches. Partly collapsed in 1278, only part of its foundations survive. The third cathedral was built between 1287 and 1530, with an interruption during the Hundred Years War. The cathedral is probably most famous for its association with Joan of Arc. The French heroine attended evening Mass in this cathedral on May 2, 1429, while in the city to lift the siege. The transept was built between 1627 and 1636 and the façades in 1675, after a design modified by Etienne Martellange. Building continued into the 19th century.