Fabrique de Notre Dame, Cathedral works in Strasbourg, France

The Fabrique de Notre Dame is an institution in Strasbourg that oversees construction and maintenance of the cathedral, protecting its Gothic architecture. It coordinates craftspeople and gathers resources to ensure the building's structure and ornate details survive through the centuries.

This institution was founded in 1224 and directed the construction of the cathedral's spire. The spire held the record as the world's tallest structure from 1647 until 1874.

The stonemasons of the Œuvre formed their own corporation after a late 14th-century dispute, when private craftsmen seized the workshop banner and refused to return it. In 1459 their guild joined others at Regensburg, where Strasbourg was made the supervising workshop for the south and south-east of the Holy Roman Empire.

The foundation is a private-law body whose administrator is the mayor of Strasbourg, under the watch of the municipal council; since 2000 it has been attached to the city's culture department. It is not the Musée de l'Œuvre Notre-Dame, a separate institution, so check which of the two you are heading to. The emblem reads "OEUVRE NOTRE-DAME" and "FONDATION".

The foundation's archive was moved in 1399 behind a door with three locks, each key held by a different administrator, so access required all three to be present. In 1459 its stonemasons joined lodges from Vienna, Bern and Cologne at Regensburg to adopt a shared rule dividing the Holy Roman Empire into four supervisory zones, with Strasbourg overseeing the south and southeast.