The model on display here was created by Charles-Joseph Mohen, a 19th century doctor and philanthropist. He produced around a hundred amateur models of French architectural monuments over the course of more than thirty years, between 1863 and 1895. Cathedrals make up a large part of this collection. He produced eight models of Romanesque (including Amiens and Angoulême) and classical (e.g. Blois and Rennes) cathedrals, but it was primarily Gothic cathedrals that attracted his attention; there are a total of 32 such models. The models on display here therefore represent just a tiny part of Doctor Mohen's work. The models, produced on a scale of 1/100, strive to reproduce exactly the façade of each cathedral, which is like the face of the building. This passion represents a systematic, encyclopaedic interest as much as a patriotic love of French architecture, of which Mohen considered Gothic cathedrals to be the most perfect expression. This affection for his country and his region was confirmed by the fact that he left all his models to his home town of Châlons-en-Champagne.