The house where they lived is believed to have stood on the same site as the cathedral; and excavations in the 19th century found traces of Gallo-Roman building under the sanctuary.

In the 12th century, the Romanesque church was enlarged with the addition of a bell tower and a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

The church was the site of the Council of Troyes that opened on 13 January 1129, hosted by Pope Honorius II.

At the urging of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, the Council granted official status to the Order of the Knights Templar, which became immensely influential throughout Christendom.

Once the construction was underway, the Bishop departed on the Fourth Crusade in 1204, and brought back to Troyes a collection of precious relics for the cathedral treasury.

Unfortunately, in 1228 a hurricane struck the half-finished structure, destroying the lower collateral aisle on the south side of the choir and damaging the upper walls.

Henry married Catherine of Valois, the French king's daughter, shortly afterwards in Troyes, either at the cathedral or the church of St Jean.

On January 9–10, 1794, a jeweller named Rondot led a mob that looted the treasury, seizing and melting down the previous gold and silver sacred objects.

During both the First and Second World Wars, the stained glass was removed and put into safe storage, and the building suffered no significant harm.

ft.), The west front of the cathedral, with the three portals which serve as main entrances, was almost entirely redone beginning in 1507 in the Flamboyant style by master builder Martin Chambiges.

On top of the rose window, interrupting the balustrade, is the coat of arms of the city of Troyes[10] The west front suffered the most damage during the Revolution.

The tympanum over the central entrance, which originally contained scenes from the Passion of Christ is bare; the statuary was smashed.

The many niches and galleries on the west front contained statues, which were also destroyed, though the fleur-de-lis royal emblems on the balustrades remain.

[11] The north and south walls of the cathedral are supported by high flying buttresses, given additional weight by stone pinnacles.

The pillars and columns at the western end are more recent, from the 15th and 16th centuries, and their capitals are decorated with more realistic floral sculpture.

The north rose window, ten meters in diameter, was remade in the 15th century and reinforced in its center by a stone bar.

The white marble altar was designed by the architect Jean Henri Gentilz in 1779, and gilded in 1786, shortly before the French Revolution.

When the abbey was largely destroyed during the French Revolution, the stalls, as well as the organ, were nationalised and were eventually purchased for Troyes Cathedral, and were installed in 1802.

[18] Just inside the west front is a massive rectangular block, which serves as an entrance lobby to the nave and was built solidly to support the towers.

On the east and west sides of the nave and choir are two wide collateral aisles, with vaults lower than those of the central vessel.

On the west, there are five small chapels on each side of the nave, each with a large single window, from the late 13th and early 14th centuries.

The ambulatory leads to the six chapels that surround the east end, which have very old windows, but more modern decoration from the 19th century, including Neo-Gothic furnishings made between the 1840s and 1876.

It depicts Christ with grapevines sprouting from this chest, and a variety of scenes associating grapes and wine with the apostles.

[23] The rose window at the west end of the nave, from 1239, was made by the artist Jean Soudain on the theme of the celestial court.

The installation of the new organ was controversial because it largely blocked the view of the west rose window from the nave and choir.

Troyes Cathedral has four bourdons, heavy bells which made a deep note, for tolling on solemn occasions.

It was particularly designed to display the collection of sacred relics which the Bishop Garnier de Traînel had brought back to France from the Fourth Crusade.

Some of the relics and other valuable objects were used as ransom for the captive King Francois I in 1525, and others were lost during the Revolution, but the collection was gradually rebuilt.

[26] Among the stained-glass windows is one which appears to have a representation of the famous Indo-Parthian king Gondophares who was ruling in ancient Taxila from 20 to 41 CE, in what is now north-western Pakistan.

He stayed for some time at Gondophares' court where Thomas is said to have built a palace for him before heading on to southern India where he was, according to the legend, martyred near modern Chennai (Madras) [28]