Notre Dame Notre Dame is a cathedral. The word cathedral comes from the Latin word cathedra, which is the name that was given to the throne was called where the bishop sat in his church. The cathedral was the house of God and the seat of the bishop. The bishop is the powerfull leader of the church and the church rules the land. Cathedrals were a sign of both economic prosperity and faith. Building Notre Dame required a great deal of things, such as skilled builders, millions of tons of stone, many workers, powerful leadership, and above all else, lots of money. Most of the money, at first, came from came from the middle class people, but kings and rich merchants ended up