The spiritual heart of Paris - the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris - began to be erected in 1163. The country was ruled by the warlike Louis VII of France, and the spiritual life of the city was led by Bishop Maurice de Sully. They chose the site for the construction of the cathedral together and settled on the eastern part of the Isle of Cite, where in ancient times there was an ancient church of St. Stephen the First Martyr.
The history of the birth of the cathedral is closely related to the history of Paris. In 987, under the French king Hugo Capet, the city was given the status of the capital. Crafts and trade began to develop rapidly in Paris. The capital city befriended a solid temple - a stronghold of spiritual power over the souls of believers. However, construction was postponed indefinitely.
Only in 1163, already under Louis VII, one of the leaders of the Second Crusade, when a special Gothic style developed in architecture, they began to build a cathedral. Bishop Maurice de Sully supervised all construction work. He strove to create an unusual temple that would accommodate an entire city, about 10 thousand parishioners, and so that French monarchs would be crowned in it. The bishop named the temple Notre Dame de Paris - Notre Dame Cathedral.
Louis VII and Pope Alexander III came to lay the first stone. The cathedral was built slowly, as the townspeople reluctantly donated for construction, and the city grew at an unprecedented pace. Dozens of years passed before the facade of the building appeared, and the two towers crowning the cathedral were erected only in 1245, but they were not completed. Later, construction continued under the new architect Jeanne de Chelle. Under him, the construction of the side chapels began, then they began to create internal choirs.
In general, the cathedral was ready and consecrated by 1345, when King Philip VI of the Valois dynasty sat in France, and the number of inhabitants of Paris reached several tens of thousands.
