It is 'a very large building, the erection of which was begun in 1755 from plans by Pierre Contant d'Ivry, the architect who later created designs for the Church of La Madeleine in Paris.

[3] Work resumed by virtue of a municipal decree dated “Nivôse 27, Year XII”, which ran: “... to erect the edifice, abandoning everything in the original plans connected with decoration and architectural beauty, limiting the work to the requirements of solidity and decency.” The church was finished in accordance with these prescriptions, being completed in 1834.

The interior was of plaster-coated brickwork, whilst the columns were of undressed stone, covered with stone-coloured mortar.

'[5] Arras Cathedral was heavily damaged by shelling in April 1917, during the run-up to the Nivelle offensives of World War I,[6] and subsequently rebuilt in its previous form.

The cathedral is adjacent to the Musée des beaux-arts d'Arras, formerly the Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Vaast.