It has been seen (p. [46]-[47]) that the cathedral was not spared by the German shells on September 2, 1914, and that its vicar very nearly shared the mayor's tragic fate.
The opposite view is taken from the top of the steeple of St. Peter's Church.
In the foreground are seen the buildings of the old bishop's palace, standing on a Gallo-Roman site; one of the towers of this enclosure was utilised in their construction.
After 1790 Senlis was no longer a bishopric, and an archæological museum is now established in the old dwelling-place of the bishops.
The west façade of the cathedral, which escaped the fire of 1504, has retained the simplicity and bareness of the twelfth century church and is in remarkable contrast with the richness of the side façades built in the sixteenth century.
PLACE DU PARVIS
The great doorway, which will be fully described further on, is flanked by two small doors surmounted by a tympanum, the arcading of which forms a curious ornamentation.
The two towers were originally alike; it was only in the middle of the thirteenth century that the spire was added to the south tower.