Cambrai et ses cathédrales

The current church that serves as the cathedral in Cambrai was not built for that purpose. The Gothis-style building that used to be the cathedral there was built over the course about a century starting in the year 1180. It ended up being demolished 600 years later during the French Revolution. This Classical style, late 17th century church was chosen to replace it. It made it through the Revolution basically unscathed.

Here is an artist's rendering of the Gothic cathedral that used to be in Cambrai. I found the image on Wikipédia and other web pages. It's in the public domain, because the artist who painted it died 70 years ago. The old cathedral suffered severe damage during the Revolution and afterwards was sold to a man who used it as a quarry and sold off the stones it was built of.

This last photo is a slightly longer shot of the top of the bell toward at today's cathedral. The original tower was built in the 16th century, but had to be torn down in 1791 because it was feared that years of neglect had made it dangerous. Today's bell tower dates back only to 1876. It rises to a height of 65 meters (213 ft). It was hit by a mortar shell during World War I that left a big hole in one wall, but it didn't come crashing down.