Since the 5th century, several religious buildings have replaced each other on this site. And on September 26.1852, Napoleon III laid the first stone in the foundation of the current Cathedral. Construction lasted 41 years. According to the authors of the project, the grandeur of the structure was supposed to symbolize the importance of the second largest city and the first port of France. The architecture of the cathedral (designed by Lé on Vaudoyer) is a Byzantine style in which Romanesque and Gothic elements are woven.→