Simon of Vermandois and Bishop Baudouin II ordered the cathedral after a Carolingian church burned in 1131. Work began around 1145, parts were complete by 1185, and it was consecrated in 1235. The article names no master builder and calls it early Gothic, transitional from Romanesque. The plan is a Latin cross with a four-story elevation and a nave of eleven bays.
The cathedral is 216 feet (66 m) high and about 345 feet (105 m) long, of stone. A fire in 1293 led to new chapels, a west porch and flying buttresses. Bombing and fire in 1918 destroyed the roof, apse vault and stained glass, and André Collin's restoration rebuilt the roof in concrete.
It reopened for worship by 1956, and has been a monument historique since 1840.
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