# Interior view [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [ARCHITECT, French]() - Date: 1201-1250 - Technique: Photo ## Commentary The cathedral of Saint-Julien in Le Mans combines a Romanesque nave and a High Gothic choir. It is notable for its rich collection of stained glass and the spectacular bifurcating flying buttresses at its eastern end. The cathedral was originally built in the late 11th century with a flat roof. It had burnt down several times, the last time being in 1137, when it was decided to vault the nave in stone. In the course of this work the whole clerestory of the nave was rebuilt. The city of Le Mans had fallen into the hands of the French monarchy in 1204, along with the rest of the English king's French possessions. In 1217, King Philippe-Auguste allowed the cathedral chapter to pull down the city wall in the place where it wanted to build a particularly large new choir. Because the ground sloped away at that point, some costly foundation work was needed at first, but the choir was nevertheless complete in 1254. The choir follow the pattern of the choir of Bourges Cathedral, whose aisles increase in height from the outside to the centre, but instead of the tiny chapels of its model, a circle of large and particularly deep chapels adjoin the outer ambulatory of the choir. Le Mans is a perfect example of a Gothic cathedral that combines not only styles from different periods \(Romanesque and Gothic\), and different regional styles \(from Bourges, Soissons, Bayeux, Mont-Saint-Michel, Île-de-France, Paris\), but in addition various building types without looking completely heterogeneous and confused as a result. From the middle of the 13th century onward the style emerging in the cathedral came to be seen as exemplary throughout Europe. The photo shows the ambulatory. View the <a href="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/support/plans/zzzarchi/13c/2/1/le\_mans.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=400,height=600'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return false">ground plan</a> of the choir of Le Mans Cathedral. ## Related artworks - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Bird's eye view]() - [Burial lantern]() - [Castle]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()