Though today we see a staid-looking monument, Notre Dame has a tumultuous history.
Creation - and re-creation
On a site that in Roman times housed a temple to Jupiter, the foundation stone was laid in 1163 by a Pope; the building was finished about 1345.
The Renaissance French --perhaps finding "gothic" old-fashioned-- "modernized" the cathedral; then, during the Revolution, it was re-styled as The Temple of Reason. When Napoleon became Emperor, he was crowned in Notre-Dame (seizing the crown from the Pope's hands, and crowning himself.)
Brushes with destruction
After Napoleon's fall, the cathedral fell into such decay that it was due for demolition! Its rescue was due to the power of the pen: Victor Hugo (though an atheist) wrote The Hunchback of Notre Dame which stirred up popular feeling about the Cathedral. Napoleon III had the great building restored.
Other close calls include: in May 1871 the Cathedral narrowly escaped being burned by revolutionaries ("The Communards"). Legend has it that a fire was lit inside, but one individual had regrets and came back to stop the blaze.
Then, in August 1944, Hitler-- facing defeat-- ordered that Notre-Dame and much else in Paris be burned down. Instead, General de Gaulle liberated Paris; a Mass was held in Notre Dame to celebrate, and when sniper bullets flew right inside the Cathedral, General de Gaulle refused to even duck.
