Notre Dame Cathedral is a cathedral of Catholic worship, the seat of the archdiocese of Paris, the capital of France. Dedicated to the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ, it is located on the small island of the Cité, surrounded by the waters of the Seine River. It is one of the most popular monuments in the French capital.

It is one of the most important and oldest of all the buildings built in the Gothic style. The innovative use of the ribbed vault and flying buttress, the huge and colourful rose windows and the naturalism and abundance of sculptural decoration set it apart from Romanesque architecture.

Its construction began in 1163 and by 1260 it was largely completed, although it was finished in 1345 and was frequently modified over the following centuries, due to the need for renovation and also because of the evolution of the prevailing taste. In 1786 the central spire, damaged by the weather, had to be dismantled. During the 1790s, after the French Revolution, Notre Dame was desacralised and suffered the theft and dispersal of many of its possessions as well as the desecration of some of its religious imagery, which was damaged and destroyed. After being used as a warehouse, in 1802, its use was returned to the Catholic Church thanks to Napoleon Bonaparte, who was crowned emperor at Notre Dame two years later. Nevertheless, the church survived in modest condition until the publication in 1831 of Notre Dame de Paris, a novel written by Victor Hugo and whose main setting was Notre Dame, revived popular interest in the old Parisian cathedral. The architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, an advocate of the nascent neo-Gothic style, led a restoration project that began in 1845 and lasted for a quarter of a century; this intervention, too bold according to some historians, not only repaired damaged ornaments but also incorporated entirely new elements, such as a new 96-metre-high spire and the now famous Chimeras, and demolished the surrounding buildings. As early as 1963, the façade was cleaned of soot and restored to its original colour. A further cleaning and restoration campaign was carried out between 1991 and 2000, but the building still needed work on other parts, such as its central spire, and (after difficulties in raising funding) repairs were reactivated in 2019.

On 15 April 2019, the building suffered significant fire damage; two-thirds of the roof was destroyed, the central spire of Viollet-le-Duc fell and the rose windows were damaged. The fire may have been due to carelessness during the renovation work being carried out, but this assumption is subject to an ongoing investigation.