The first three travées, or bays of the nave, remain from the Romanesque 11th century church and the present Chapel of Saint Joseph was originally the choir apse.

In the winter of 1543–1544 the cathedral, the largest building in the city, was temporarily transformed into a mosque for the 30,000 crew members of the ships of the Ottoman-Barbary admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa, at that time an ally of Francis I of France.

At the end of the winter, King Francis paid a large bribe to the Turkish admiral to persuade him and his fleet to leave.

[4] The most notable work of art in the cathedral is the eighteenth century Baroque retable made to hold the Holy Sacrament, located in the Corpus Christi chapel.

The original was destroyed by fire in 1661, and replaced in 1681 by a replica made of marble and stucco by Puget's nephew and student, Christophe Veyrier.