The construction of the Romanesque cathedral, of which only the crypt and the plan remain, began in 1015. Spire of the current building, in Gothic style, was finished in 1439.
The cathedral with its 142-metre-high spire was the tallest building in the world from 1647 to 1874 when it was surpassed by the Church of St. Nicholas in Hamburg.
Today it is the sixth tallest church in the world and the tallest existing structure still standing built entirely in the Middle Ages.
Described by Victor Hugo as a “gigantic and delicate wonder” and by Goethe as a “tree of God that stands sublimely and expands out of all proportion”.
The 12th-14th century-stained glass windows and the rose window depict the centuries-old history of Strasbourg. Scenes from the New Testament are depicted on the south side, while on the north side there are stained glass windows depicting emperors and kings.
Inside the Cathedral there is also the astronomical clock, created in 1547, it is a masterpiece of watchmaking and mathematics of the Renaissance. It also features a perpetual calendar, which indicates the movement of the planets on an astrolabe.
Born as a Catholic religious building and the current church of the Archdiocese of Strasbourg, Notre-Dame Cathedral has been a Protestant place of worship for about 150 years.
This peculiarity is linked to Luther’s reform of 1517 and to the fact that the city of Strasbourg and the entire region of Alsace have always been disputed between France and Germany.
The Alsatian city immediately proved to be in favor of the Lutheran reform and was so until the end of the Thirty Years’ War, when Louis XIV, King of France, regained possession of the city and restored Catholic worship in 1679.
In 1988, Strasbourg Cathedral was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its stunning Gothic architecture.
