Notre-Dame of Laon

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Exterior of the cathedral

The cathedral of Notre-Dame of Laon is one of the most important examples of the Gothic architecture of the 12th and 13th centuries, ranking with the cathedrals of Saint-Étienne of Sens and Notre Dame of Paris. It is located in Laon, Picardy, France.

It dates from the 12th and early 13th centuries, an early example of the Gothic style that originated in Northern France. The former cathedral burned during the communal insurrection in 1112, occasioned by the revocation of the commune's charter. The present reconstruction began with a choir about 1160 and was finished as far as the east side of the transept by 1174. In a second campaign, which started about 1180, the nave was built, and completed after 1205. Then the choir was replaced by the greatly lengthened present choir in 1215.

The building is cruciform, and the choir terminates in a straight wall instead of in an apse. Of the seven planned towers flanking the facades, only five are complete to the height of the base of the spires, two at the west front, with life-size figures of oxen beneath the arcades of their upper portion, one at each end of the transept and a square central tower that forms a lantern illuminating the crossing.

Nave in four tiers, with clerestories and triforium under sexpartite vaulting

The west front, with three porches, the centre one surmounted by a fine rose window (that dates to 1210), ranks next to that of Notre-Dame at Paris in the purity of its Gothic style. Because of the use of white stone in the interior however, the luminosity is remarkably greater than Notre-Dame de Paris. The cathedral has stained glass of the 13th century and a chancel screen of the 18th century. Although the cathedral suffered some damage during the French Revolution, it escaped both World Wars unharmed.

Villard de Honnecourt, a Picard artist, made detailed drawings of one of the towers of Laon, ca. 1230.