With its single tall spire pointing upwards like an admonishing finger, it dominates the landscape over much of Alsace, this Cathedral is the symbol of a proud and independent city which had been praised by Erasmus as possessing "a monarchy without tyranny, an aristocracy without factions, democracy without turmoil, wealth without luxury and prosperity without arrogance."

One of the finest of the great Gothic cathedrals, it stands on the site of a roman temple, built on a mound above the marshy land surrounding the camp of Argentoratum, and an early church commissioned by King Clovis of the Franks. The first version was begun in 1015, but fire destroyed most of the original Romanesque building, and by the time work started on rebuilding it at the end of the twelth century, the Gothic style had reached Alsace, and stonemasons and master builders who had worked at Chartres were soon bringing their skills to this new project. After the defeat of their prince bishop, the bourgeoisie took charge of the work themselves, calling on the citizens to contribute to the building fund. A contribution of a horse, he apparently had no money to give, came from the man who was appointed in 1284 to mastermind the whole operation, the brilliant Erwin von Steinbach. To this medieval genius, we owe the magnificent west front, in the purest of Gothic style. By the time of Erwin's death, building had progressed up to the story bearing the huge rose window. Half a century later his towers had been completed, but a decision was made to join them with a structure acting as a belfry.

In 1399, Ulrich von Ensingen, the architect of the Cathedral of Ulm in Germany, supervised the building of the octogonal base of the spire, which was completed after his death by Johannes Hültz from Cologne. For the next four centuries, it was the tallest building in Christendom ! The spire, so much of a symbol of the Cathedral now that the oddity of its having no twin seems insignificant, very nearly vanished forever during the French Revolution : Saint-Just and other revolutionary leaders ordered its destruction, but a local locksmith conceived the brilliant scheme of making a huge Phrygian cap out of metal to cover the spire, so that this symbol of liberty would cause the enemies of the Republics on the other side of the Rhine to quail. The shellings of 1870 and 1944 caused some damage, but after several restoration programs, and the replacement of the missing statues, you can once again share the emotion of Goethe, who spoke of the Cathedral "thrusting up a huge wall to heaven, like the most sublime, wide-spreading tree of God, proclaiming the glory of the Lord...To experience this impression to the fullest, approach the Cathedral from rue mercière. The west front looks particularly splendid on summer evenings, when the setting sun picks out every detail of the stonework.