Inside and outside views of the cathedral at Sées

French Wikipédia says the first cathedral in Sées was built in the year 440 A.D. It was a much smaller structure than the cathedral that exists today and that was built in the 13th century — about a thousand years later. That earliest cathedral in Sées was heavily damaged during the Viking invasions of the 8th and 9th centuries and replaced by a more imposing building in the 11th century. That building didn't stand for long. A fire weakened its structure and it collapsed less than a century later. Another cathedral was built in the 12th century but it too was destroyed by fire.

Today's cathedral was built starting in about the year 1200. In their rush, the builders didn't lay a solid foundation for the structure, which was consecrated in the year 1310. It suffered major damage during the 100 Years' War and had to be repaired and re-consecrated at the end of the 15th century. In the 16th century the west front of the church was leaning precariously and was in danger of collapsing It had to be shored up by the construction of buttresses to keep it standing. More buttresses had to be added in the 18th century. Finally, major restoration and consolidation work in the 19th century stabilized the building and what we see today dates mostly back to that time.