Saint-Jean-Baptiste Church, Arras

Église catholique Saint-Jean-Baptiste pro-cathédrale d’Arras was built during the 16th century, under the patronage of Saint Nicolas in the Moats, replacing a church in the moats where Saint Thomas à Becket had preached, it was saved from destruction during the French Revolution because it became the ‘Temple of Reason’. It was the temporary cathedral between 1803 and 1833. In 1915 it was burnt down in the bombings of the town, causing the death of two heroic firemen.

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.

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.