1227: from Romanesque to Gothic
On 22 December 1227, an enormous section of rock broke away from the cliff and crashed onto the collegiate church. The Romanesque church was badly damaged and had to be rebuilt.
The builders chose the new style then developing in the great French cathedrals: Gothic architecture. Work on Reims Cathedral had begun only a few years earlier, and its influence can be felt at Dinant.
Pointed arches, large windows and a more daring elevation: the stonework becomes lighter and daylight pours into the building. It is this 13th-century Gothic collegiate church which, despite many later changes, still stands before us today.