Senlis Cathedral

Notre-Dame de Senlis is the former cathedral of this Oise bishopric north of Paris and a key building of early French Gothic. Built between 1153 and 1191 under the direct influence of the contemporary cathedral of Paris, it is best known for the Coronation of the Virgin portal on its west front, one of the earliest sculptural treatments of the theme later taken up at Chartres and Reims. The slender south tower, completed in the mid-thirteenth century, echoes the towers of Laon and still dominates the medieval old town. Inside, the tall Gothic choir shows an early use of doubled flying buttresses; outside, visitors can wander a tight weave of stone houses, royal castle ruins and Roman walls that makes Senlis one of the best-preserved small cathedral towns of the Ile-de-France.