As it happens, it was Napoleon who ended up saving the cathedral. Decades later, in 1804, he was crowned emperor there.
Notre-Dame is one of Paris’s most famous landmarks, drawing more than 12 million visitors a year.CreditJean-Sebastien Evrard/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Notre-Dame around 1900.CreditRoger Viollet, via Getty Images
Work on the cathedral did not stop once it was completed. A laborer in about 1900.CreditImagno, via Getty Images
At play in the snow in December 1938.CreditKeystone-France, via Getty Images
American soldiers on the cathedral square on Aug. 25, 1944, when Paris was being liberated during World War II.CreditPierre Jahan/Roger Viollet, via Getty Images
Ordaining deacons in 1938.CreditKeystone-France, via Getty Images
Philippe Petit, the high-wire artist, between the towers in 1971.CreditAgence France-Presse — Getty Images
The cathedral is a jewel of medieval Gothic architecture.CreditDmitry Kostyukov for The New York Times
As the years passed, the cathedral showed signs of age. In 2017, fallen stones littered its roof.CreditDmitry Kostyukov for The New York Times
An artist painting Notre Dame in an undated photograph.CreditBettmann Archive, via Getty Images
The Seine seen from a tower of the cathedral in 1931.CreditThe Print Collector/Getty Images
A view of Notre Dame in 1922.CreditEugène Atget/Corbis, via Getty Images
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