Reims held exceptional importance before the present cathedral. Bishop Remigius baptized Clovis, king of the Franks, in the city around the turn of the sixth century, creating a tradition that linked Christian kingship with this place. A Carolingian cathedral and later buildings served the archbishopric and royal ceremony. After fire damaged the preceding church, construction of the current Notre-Dame began in 1211. Several master masons developed a High Gothic structure whose architecture, sculpture, and glazing created an unusually unified setting for worship and the consecration of French monarchs.

The cathedral's long nave, articulated facade, twin western towers, and dense population of sculpture transformed stone into a statement about sacred and royal order. The Gallery of Kings placed monarchy within biblical ancestry, while the smiling angel and portal figures became celebrated works of Gothic sculpture. Builders used flying buttresses and rib vaults to open walls for stained glass. Work continued into the fourteenth century, and the intended spires were never completed. A roof fire during the coronation festivities of 1481 caused major damage, requiring substantial late-medieval repair.

From Louis VIII in 1223 to Charles X in 1825, most French kings were crowned at Reims. The Sainte Ampoule tradition, liturgy, regalia, and archbishop's palace made each coronation an act of historical continuity. Joan of Arc brought Charles VII to the cathedral in 1429 after relieving Orléans and opening a route through contested territory. Revolution later suppressed royal ceremony, damaged sculpture, and dispersed furnishings. Nineteenth-century architects, including Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, restored portions of the building, already making the cathedral a layered monument before modern war struck.

German shelling in September 1914 ignited scaffolding and the timber roof. Fire melted lead, shattered glass, burned furnishings, and damaged sculpture and masonry, turning Reims into an international symbol of cultural destruction. Postwar restoration under Henri Deneux used a fire-resistant reinforced-concrete roof system assembled from standardized elements rather than reconstructing the lost medieval timber frame. Work extended for decades and incorporated surviving fragments, replacement carving, and recovered glass. New windows by artists including Marc Chagall and Imi Knoebel later added deliberately modern layers instead of pretending every opening remained medieval.

Notre-Dame de Reims remains a Roman Catholic cathedral owned by the French state and used by the Archdiocese of Reims. UNESCO inscribed it with the former abbey of Saint-Rémi and the Palace of Tau in 1991. Its principal Gothic plan, elevations, and much sculpture survive, but the roof, numerous figures, glazing, and surfaces reflect intensive restoration after 1914 and continuing conservation. General access supports worship and visitation, while particular events or areas are managed separately. The building's authenticity lies not in untouched fabric but in the legible survival and repair of a coronation church repeatedly reshaped by fire, revolution, war, and renewed artistic patronage.