Continuing our land tour of France while on a Viking River Cruise, we stop in Reims, France, on our way to Paris.
Although we had free time to explore, the highlight of this stop was Reims Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Our excellent guide explained that the UNESCO honor included the cathedral, the former Abbey of Saint-Rémi (begun about 1170 and containing the remains of the 5th–6th-century archbishop St. Remigius), and the archiepiscopal Tau Palace (reconstructed in the 17th century).
Throughout our external and internal tour, she explained the restoration undertaken in the 20th century after the cathedral was seriously damaged by shelling during World War I.
Reims was the site of 25 coronations of the kings of France, from Louis VIII in 1223 to Charles X in 1825, including the crowning of Charles VII in 1429 in the presence of Joan of Arc. The cathedral construction began in 1211. It replaced an earlier church destroyed by fire in 1210. The main construction was overseen by four different architects and lasted some 80 years; expansions and decorative work continued on the church for centuries.
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