On the German side, despite the debate surrounding the bombing of Reims, artists continued their research into Cathedrals both during and after the war. They used the Gothic building as a model in their desire to invent a new space which would both bring together and transcend art forms. Lyonel Feininger made Cathedrals the central theme of his work and in 1919, his engraving Cathedral was used as a cover design for the Bauhaus manifesto. It symbolised the 'new building of the future, which will contain everything in one structure: architecture and sculpture and painting, which will one day rise, fashioned by the hands of millions of craftsmen, towards heaven as the crystalline symbol of a new and coming faith.'

At the end of the Second World War, Picasso painted Notre Dame, the end-point of General de Gaulle's walk through a newly liberated Paris. Cathedrals have had an enduring fascination for artists, from Nicolas de Staël, who portrayed an austere, hieratic vision of the structures to Wim Delvoye and François Morellet who represent this heritage using contemporary materials, and not without a touch of humour.