It is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Paris. The cathedral, dedicated to the Virgin Mary "Our Lady" , is considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture. Several attributes set it apart from the earlier Romanesque style , including its pioneering use of the rib vault and flying buttress , its enormous and colourful rose windows , and the naturalism and abundance of its sculptural decoration.
The construction of the cathedral began in under Bishop Maurice de Sully and was largely completed by , though it was modified in succeeding centuries. In the s, during the French Revolution , Notre-Dame suffered extensive desecration ; much of its religious imagery was damaged or destroyed.
In the 19th century, the cathedral hosted the coronation of Napoleon and the funerals of many of the French Republic's presidents. Another cleaning and restoration project was carried out between and It is a widely recognised symbol of both the city of Paris and the French nation. In , it was awarded honorary status as a minor basilica. As the cathedral of the archdiocese of Paris , Notre-Dame contains the cathedra or seat of the archbishop of Paris currently Laurent Ulrich.
In the early 21st century, about 12 million people visited Notre-Dame annually, making it the most visited monument in Paris. Over time, the cathedral has gradually been stripped of many decorations and artworks. It still contains Gothic, Baroque , and 19th-century sculptures, 17th- and early 18th-century altarpieces, and some of the most important relics in Christendom , including the crown of thorns , and a sliver and nail from the True Cross.
It is believed that before the arrival of Christianity in France , a Gallo-Roman temple dedicated to Jupiter stood on the site of Notre-Dame. Evidence for this includes the Pillar of the Boatmen , discovered beneath the cathedral in It was roughly half the size of the later Notre-Dame, 70 metres ft long—and separated into nave and four aisles by marble columns, then decorated with mosaics.
