Extraordinary new cathedrals were flying up in towns and cities throughout northwest Europe, notably in Cambrai, Arras, Tournai, and Rouen. And in Paris, ground was broken on what became perhaps the most famous cathedral in the entire world: Notre-Dame. Reaching more than one hundred feet (thirty-three meters) high, this was the tallest cathedral that had been contemplated to that point, and a marvel of engineering, with ingeniously positioned ranks of flying buttresses allowing the walls to reach four stories in height.
