Reims, 150 kilometres northeast of Paris, has played a number of important roles in French history, going back to Roman times, when it was a major city with ten times the population of what is now Paris. Its cathedral has been the site for the coronation of nearly all French kings over a thousand-year span.
A model of the main facade, gleaming in gold, inside the Cathedral
Reims was the first major center of Christianity in Roman France, and it is where, after the fall of Rome and pillaging first by Vandals and then by Attila the Hun, Clovis, King of the Franks, was baptized by Saint Remigius, bishop of Reims. That event took place at the site of the Basilica of Saint-Remi nearby, but the stone marking the event is now in the Cathedral.
Stones mark where Nicasius was beheaded, and where Clovis was baptised ninety years later
The site was already a church; the first cathedral was built by Bishop Nicasius, who was later killed on the spot in 406 by Vandals. Nicasius built his church on the remains of a Roman bath. In 816, when Pope Stephen IV crowned Louis the Pious there, it began the long tradition of crowning French kings there, and also exposed the poor condition of the building, and a new one was started on the spot.
Joan of Arc is here, too: She captured the city to permit the coronation of Charles VII during France's Hundred Years War with England. Copies of this statue, cast to honor her canonization in 1920, were placed in Paris and DC
But that building was relatively small, and by the 12th century, the ambitions of the powerful Archbishops of Reims were large, and they and their allies were unwilling to sit back and watch other cities build new Gothic cathedrals. And so, the present cathedral was begun, in a mix of Carolingian and early Gothic. It lasted less than aa hundred years, destroyed by a fire in 1210.
The elaborate portals contain hundreds of small sculptures, mostly honoring royalty and connecting them to religious figures. Above the rose window is a gallery with 56 15-foot statues of kings of France, starting with Clovis.
The cathedral we see today is essentially the High Gothic cathedral built over the 13th and 14th centuries. One important factor allowed it to build quickly, but another slowed its progress for years. The slowdowns came because of frequent clashes between the clergy of the cathedral and local lords and landowners.
More details at the doorways
The speed came from a new development: Cutting hundreds of stone blocks to a standard size, rather than cutting each piece to fit the one that had been installed before it. In that way, the construction at Reims took a step forward as big as the 19th century development of steel-framed buildings.
Just above, a coronation scene in the portal
As you can imagine, a cathedral 'completed' in 1505 was not really completed. Six hundred more years of additions and subtractions, new chapels and art, and addition of the towers that were canceled for fund shortages have changed the look in one way or another.
Inside, large spaces suitable for large events, with plenty of light.
A big change, as at many other Cathedrals in France, came during the Revolution. In 1792, many royalist symbols were destroyed and the building used first as a warehouse, and then as a Temple of Reason. While the bells were melted for cannon and some objects destroyed, most of the medieval statuary survived.
There is a lot of stained glass at Reims, even some pieces from the 13th century, although heavily restored. More recent works above include a top row honoring the monk Dom Perignon and the Champagne industry. The middle row is abstract work by Brigitte Simon, and the bottom row is by Marc Chagall.
After the Revolution, the 19th century brought more changes to the Cathedral, including the last coronation of a King, Charles X in 1825. His only successor as King was sworn in by the Parliament in Paris. The other big change was funding for a long restoration of the cathedral, intended to restore it to its medieval glory.
The restoration, however, did not last long. In 1914, during World War I, the city changed hands several times. French authorities declared the cathedral a war hospital, and at first the German army held off shelling the area. But days later, under German occupation, the hospital was filled with German wounded. When the city changed hands again, the Germans were left behind, and the area was heavily shelled, and the building was heavily damaged.
After the war, there was a proposal, quickly rejected, that the ruins be left as a monument to victims of the war. Work started in 1919, and with help from the Rockefeller Foundation and modern construction techniques, the cathedral re-opened in 1938, just in time for World War II. Fortunately the building escaped major damage in that war. During the restoration, archaeologists were able to find and preserve portions of the previous churches beneath it.
The Reims Cathedral, the next-door Palace of Tau and the Abbey of Saint-Remi a kilometre away are a joint entry on the Unesco World Heritage list, and all fit neatly into a visit. For those into bubbly, there are also tours and tastings at many of the Champagne houses.
And, just down the road from the railroad station is the still-operating public school, a portion of whose building serves as a museum for a more recent historic event: the unconditional surrender of Germany on May 8, 1945.
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