Toulon's cathedral was under construction from the 11th to the 18th century, which explains its architectural range: a Romanesque nave, Gothic additions, and a Baroque interior completed with a marble altarpiece by Christophe Veyrier in 1681. Veyrier was a student of the sculptor Pierre Puget, Toulon's most famous son, and the work shows that debt.
The building has had an unusual history. In 1096 it was begun, according to tradition, in thanksgiving for a crusader's safe return. In 1543 it was temporarily converted into a mosque for the Ottoman fleet that overwintered in the harbour under French royal permission. In 1944 it survived the Allied bombing that destroyed much of the surrounding neighbourhood. It is an active parish church and the entrance is free.