# What is the most beautiful cathedral in France?

> Stone that took three centuries to finish, glass that has survived eight, and one choir so ambitious it fell down.

*By YPB Team · Published September 17, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-most-beautiful-cathedral-in-france*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Notre-Dame de Paris** — score 1000/1000
   The island cathedral reopened in December 2024 after the 2019 fire.
2. **Beauvais Cathedral** — score 952/1000
   The tallest Gothic choir ever built, and never finished after it collapsed.
3. **Reims Cathedral** — score 762/1000
   The coronation church of the kings of France, with the smiling angel.
4. **Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey** — score 735/1000
   A Romanesque and Gothic abbey church on a tidal island.
5. **Basilica of Saint-Denis** — score 571/1000
   Where Gothic architecture began, and where French kings are buried.
6. **Strasbourg Cathedral** — score 571/1000
   Pink sandstone and a single spire that was the world's tallest building for 227 years.
7. **Laon Cathedral** — score 571/1000
   An early Gothic cathedral with stone oxen carved into its towers.
8. **Chartres Cathedral** — score 343/1000
   Famous for 12th- and 13th-century stained glass and its mismatched spires.
9. **Sainte-Chapelle** — score 343/1000
   A royal chapel that is essentially fifteen walls of glass.
10. **Amiens Cathedral** — score 343/1000
   The largest cathedral in France by interior volume.
11. **Bourges Cathedral** — score 343/1000
   A five-aisled Gothic interior with no transept.
12. **Albi Cathedral** — score 343/1000
   The largest brick building in the world, built to look like a fortress.
13. **Le Mans Cathedral** — score 343/1000
   A Romanesque nave joined to a soaring Gothic choir.
14. **Rouen Cathedral** — score 0/1000
   The Gothic facade Monet painted about thirty times at different hours.

Tags: travel, architecture, france, gothic, cathedrals