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Notre Dame Cathedral The architect of Notre Dame was Maurice de Sully, the Bishop of Paris. He decided to build it for the growing population of Paris. He dedicated Notre Dame to the Virgin Mary. Even though construction started in 1163, it wasn’t complete until about 180 years later in 1345. The whole cathedral tells stories of the Bible in its paintings and stained glass. Every part of Notre Dame was constructed very widespread all through the years. The choir was completed in 1183 and in that same year work on the nave started. They finished the nave around 1208. The west front towers were started in 1225 and finished in 1250. Throughout 1235 and 1250 a bunch of chapels were added to the nave and the apse around 1296. Notre Dame has a huge history. Crusader used to pray there before leaving on their holy wars. Polyphonic music also developed in this cathedral. Notre Dame was torn up during the French Revolution just like a lot of the other cathedrals in France. One of the controversies that Notre Dame had was that some of the citizens of Paris thought that some of the statues of saints that were located on the west front were representations of their kings, so they decided to behead them and take them down. Actually, a