Before Notre Dame Cathedral

Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris

In the time of the Romans, about 100 AD, the city council of Paris had built a temple to Jupiter on the island in the middle of the city, right where Notre Dame stands today.

When everyone in Paris decided to become Christians, about 400 AD, they didn't need the old temple anymore, and instead the Merovingian king Childebert built a "magnificent church" (according to Gregory of Tours) in 528 AD. Childebert's church was dedicated to Saint Stephen. Not much is left of this church, though, because the bishop Maurice de Sully had it torn down in 1160 to build the new church of Notre Dame, which is still there today.