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Step 4 of 5 Cathédrale Notre-Dame

Cathédrale Notre-Dame's secrets

Le Havre Notre Dame Cathedral is the most ancient builiding of Le Havre town center.

When the city was founded in 1517, Pierre de Roulin, Ingouville's parish built a wood chapel covered with a straw roof on this place. It is also on this parish field that the first houses were built. Between 1525 and 1527, the chapel is currently flooded to the point that the parish must sometimes finish the mass standing on a bench. In 1536, the church's treasurer replace the chapel by a stone building that then became a church. The wooden porch is still up today, on the ground floor at the tower entrance.


In 1539, the construction of a big church is started. The choir is finished in 1585. In 1637, Richelieu Cardinal, city governor at that time, offers an organ to the church ornemented with its heraldry. The work site ends in 1638. In 1694 and 1759, the cathedra lis affected by the English bombing, and then in 1944 by the German ones which destroyed the nave.

When Le havre is founded, the Grand-Rue (today’s rue de Paris) connects the port to Ingouville, the nearest village. After WW2, Auguste Perret oppose himself to other architects who wish to destroy the church. He’ll move a little further west the original route of the rue de Paris to connect the port to the City Hall. This allows the installation of a forecourt in front of the church’s entrance. This one is lower than the level of the street because the city was rebuilt on the debris of the old one, destroyed by the bombings.

On February 10, 1919, the church is classified as historical monuments, as well as part of the Eucharistic tableware as the chalice offered by Charles X on the occasion of his coronation. In 1974, the church was elevated to the rank of cathedral, three years before the end of the rehabilitation work.

The cathedral is a mixture of styles with Renaissance and classical façades supported by gothic foothills adorned with gargoyles. The main facade, called "façade of angels playing trumpet" is made of Caen’s stone of baroque and classical style. The tower erected around 1540 is the oldest part and built in Vernon’s stone, which explains the difference of color with the other parts of the cathedral.

To date, the exterior remains in poor condition due to lack of funding, these having been reassigned to the Rouen cathedral severely damaged during the storm of 1999. The Notre-Dame du Havre cathedral measures 62.90 meters long. 27.30 meters wide and 13 meters high.