Saint-Géry Church, Arras

Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady and St Foster (Vedast) is one of the most impressive neo-classic 18th century buildings of western Europe. The cathedral was the abbey church of the Abbey of Saint Vaast still next to it today. The origins of the whole go back to the 7th century. The abbey was rebuilt in 1740 and the abbey church around 1760.

The present cathedral is the former abbey church of the abbey of Saint-Vaast (whose origins date back to the 7th century). In the Middle Ages, Arras was the largest and richest city of Artois. It was built in the 18th century as the abbey church of Saint-Vaast Abbey and became a cathedral in 1848, replacing the old cathedral Notre-Dame-en-Cité d'Arras, the great Gothic cathedral in the west of the old town that had been destroyed during the French Revolution.

The huge 18th century abbey church became the new cathedral of Notre-Dame-et-Saint-Vaast d'Arras in 1804. It replaced the old Gothic cathedral Notre-Dame-en-Cité in the west of the city which was destroyed, and since 1825 the vast monastery buildings of the abbey have housed the Arras Fine Arts Museum.