The spiritual heart of Paris - the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral - began to be erected in 1163. The country was ruled by warlike Louis VII of France, and the spiritual life of the city was led by Bishop Maurice de Sully. They chose the place for the construction of the cathedral together and settled on the eastern part of the island of Cité, 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 connected with the history of Paris. In 987, under the French king Hugo Capet, the city was given the status of capital. In Paris, crafts and trade began to develop intensively. The metropolitan city befitted a solid temple - a bastion of spiritual power over the souls of believers. However, construction was delayed indefinitely.
Only in 1163, already under Louis VII, one of the leaders of the Second Crusade, when a special Gothic style took shape in architecture, the cathedral was built. Bishop Maurice de Sully led the construction work. He sought to create an unusual temple that could accommodate a whole city, about 10 thousand parishioners, and that French monarchs would be crowned in it. The bishop named the church of Notre Dame de Paris - Notre Dame Cathedral.
Louis VII and Pope Alexander III arrived at the laying of the first stone. The cathedral was erected slowly, as the townspeople reluctantly donated for the 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 built only by 1245, but were not completed. Later construction continued under the new architect Joan de Schelle. Under him, the construction of 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 people in Paris reached several tens of thousands.
