Construction began in 1490 by the order of the then bishop Antoine de Guiramand to cater for the movement of the town's population to a higher, more secure and defensible location round the local castle. The cathedral was renovated and expanded in the 1860s under the direction of architect Antoine-Nicolas Bailly.
The previous cathedral in the old town, Notre-Dame-du-Bourg (Cathédrale Notre-Dame-du-Bourg de Digne), a late Romanesque building of the 13th century, still stands as a museum.