# Exterior view [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [ARCHITECT, French]() - Date: 1151-1200 - Technique: Photo ## Commentary The Cathedral of Laon \(Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Laon\), in the Picardy region of France, dates from the 12th century. Laon Cathedral is known for its imposing towers, its beautiful Gothic architecture, and its importance as a major stop on the medieval pilgrimage route to Santiago in Spain. The former cathedral was burned out and damaged during the communal insurrection in 1112. The present reconstruction began with a choir in 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 new cathedral was completed in 1230. The second half of the 13th century saw the start of work on the side chapels. Considerable reconstruction was done in the early 14th century on the south and north façades. The cathedral, an important pilgrimage centre, was originally a galleried basilica with an ambulatory and a long transept. Both the west façade and the transept façades were to be accentuated by double towers, but this plan was executed fully only on the main, west façade; a further tower rises up over the crossing. The result is that the building's distinctive silhouette is visible from far away, since the Cathedral of Notre Dame at Laon stands on a hill overlooking a broad plain. The building is cruciform, and the choir terminates in a straight wall instead of in an apse. Of the seven planned towers flanking the façades, 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, two more, one at each end of the transept, and a square central crossing tower that forms a lantern illuminating the crossing. The west front, then with three porches, the centre one surmounted by a fine rose window of 1210, ranks next to that of Notre-Dame de 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 at Notre-Dame. 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 and the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, it escaped both World Wars unharmed. View the <a href="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/support/plans/zzzarchi/12c/2/2/laon.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=400,height=600'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return false">ground plan</a> of Laon 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]()