Until this time it was under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Bourges Cathedral, but under Pope Clement IV Saint-André began reporting directly to Rome.

It nave seems to have had three rectangular traverses, and an asymmetric transept, with a plan of adding several cupolas, similar to the church of St. Maurice in Angers.

[1] The transformation from Romanesque to the French Gothic architecture took place during a long period when Aquitaine and Bordeaux were under the control of the English.

[2] It was assisted by the support of the archbishop of Bordeaux, Bertrand de Goth, who from 1305 until 1314 reigned over the Catholic church as Pope Clement V, and directed numerous donations and concessions to the new cathedral.

Construction of the nave was greatly delayed by the outbreak of the Hundred Years' War in 1337 between England and the Valois kings of the Kingdom of France.

Following an earthquake in 1427 that caused the collapse of parts of the city ramparts, flying buttresses were added to the outside of the nave under master builder Imbert Boachon.

[3] In the 16th century, Renaissance decorative elements were added to the Gothic structure, including an ornamental jubé or rood screen between the choir and the nave.

A portion of the exterior sculpture, on the north side, was hidden by the neighbouring buildings, and was spared.

In March 1793 the building was officially nationalised, and transformed into a storage barn for the feed of military horses.

The most ambitious reconstructions were carried out by Paul Abadie, best known as the architect of the Basilica of Sacré-Cœur in Paris, and a student of Eugène Viollet-le-Duc.

The later constructions in front of the north side of the nave in Bordeaux were removed in 1866, making that part of the cathedral more visible.

Despite this, the north walls of this part of the cathedral have had a history of stability problems, and have required the construction of additional flying buttresses over the years.

It has the flying arches of a Gothic buttress, but is covered with has lavish Renaissance decoration, including a host of small putti, or angels, and carved inscriptions describing the Biblical Day of Judgement.

[7] Another feature of the north front is the royal portal, which is located between the Gramont buttress and the sacristy.

The lower portions below the rose window date to the early 14th century, and are older than the north transept.

The Pey-Berland tower, in the flamboyant Gothic style, was added to the cathedral by Archbishop Pey Berland, who laid the first stone on October 13, 1440.

The statue of Our Lady of Aquitaine, made of gilded metal by the sculptor Alexandre Chertier, was added in 1863.

In the 16th century, some of the nave traverses were reconstructed with the more ornate lierne vault, which have purely decorative additional ribs.

In Bordeaux the elevation is composed of groups of three arcades, topped with a narrow passageway cut into the thickness of the wall, and above that the high windows fitting into arched ceiling vaults.

The massive clusters of columns that form the piers of the arcades have capitals with vegetal designs.

The transept is the meeting point between the nave and the choir, and the traditional site of the main altar.

Each with a different image, they were made so that, when the seat was folded up, and the clergy members had to stand for long periods of time, they could use the misericorde for support.

The chapel of the axis is dedicated to the Holy Sacrament or Sacred Heart; it displays the most decoration, with tracery, blind arcades and relief sculpture, and a gable over the altar.

Several small chapels were consolidated in the 1850s and 1860s to create the chapel of Saint Joseph on the south side and Our Lady of Mount Carmel on the north side, dedicated to the Carmelite prior Saint Simon Stock, who died in Bordeaux in 1265.

It is a cast from a model by Antoine Bourdelle, a student of Rodin and one of the founding figures of Art Deco.

An earlier grand organ, made by Dom Bedos de Celles, had been in this place from 1811 until 1980, when it was returned to its original home at the Abbey of Saint-Croix.

[13] The tribune upon which the organ is placed, and the walls on either side of the portal, are decorated with exceptionally fine relief sculptures, which were originally a part of the old rood screen between the choir and the nave.

The sculpture shows the influence of the Italian artist Rosso Fiorentino, who had introduced the Renaissance style to France at the Palace of Fontainebleau shortly before this time.

Both are cast by the Bollée foundry in Le Mans and currently hung dead, however they toll rather than swing.