The cathedral, glowing in the evening light, dominates the city.
Once you’ve finished touring the Champagne houses and vineyards, explore the rest that Champagne has to offer.
It’s not just the champagne that’s intoxicating. The Champagne region is also home to the majestic Cathedral de Reims, where most of the kings of France were crowned, including Charles VII (with a little help from Joan of Arc). For more modern significance, one hour’s drive to the east is Verdun, site of one of the most horrific battles of WWI and a sober reminder of the costs of war.
Quick tip: how to pronounce “Reims”
To an English speaker, it looks like it should be pronounced, “reams,“ as in “reams of paper.“ It’s really pronounced “Rance,“ rhyming with “France.“ In fact, just take the “F” off France ~ et voilà ~ you have the correct pronunciation.
So, yes ~ go to Champagne for the champagne (you deserve it!), but stay for the rest. And remember ~ once you’ve finished with the shopping, cathedral and battlefields, a good bottle of bubbly awaits.
Lunchtime on a sunny Saturday afternoon in the shadow of the cathedral. I had a croque monsieur and Rosemary had a salad. And of course we had champagne.
The current structure, begun in 1211 to replace the Carolingian early-Gothic cathedral that was destroyed by fire in 1210, was itself almost destroyed in WWI. The towers are 272 ft tall.
“The Cathedral of Notre Dame at Rheims was one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. The framework was still standing when the Germans began their drive in 1918. In this instance shells burst on the cathedral before the eyes of many spectators.” photo from 20 September 1914. Source: “Collier’s New Photographic History of the World’s War” (1919), page 86 via Wikipedia.
After entering the cathedral, look up and behind to view the western rose window. While the window is interesting when seen from outside, it’s only when the sunlight streams through it that the richness of the colors can be seen.
The western rose windows as seen from the pulpit. The lower, smaller rose window was created in 1936 by Ateliers Simon-Marq to replace windows destroyed in WWI. The nave is 125 ft tall.
Northern aisle, Reims cathedral. The side aisles are 54 ft tall.
The stained glass in the cathedral has suffered damage over the centuries due to weather, age, fire and war. France works diligently to restore existing windows when possible or to commission new works.
The newest windows were officially presented in 2015 and were by the German artist Imi Knoebel. Marc Chaggal and Brigitte Simon have also designed windows for the cathedral.
The cathedral is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The full name of the cathedral is Notre-Dame de Reims (Our Lady of Reims).
The spot were Clovis I was baptized. Clovis I was the first king of what would eventually become France. Also, his adoption of Catholicism led the Franks to convert to Catholicism, leading to religious unification across most of what is now France, Belgium and Germany.
This statue of Joan of Arc, by Prosper d‘Épinay (1836-1914), is made of bronze, ivory, Sienese marble and lapis lazuli. Joan of Arc helped liberate Reims from the English, allowing Charles VII to be crowned King of France in the Cathedral in 1429.
Looking down from the gallery of kings, just above the large rose window on the western side of the cathedral.
A guided tour of the roof goes completely around the structure. The path is bordered on one side by an ornate railing (left) and the step roof (right).
Griffins guarding Reims Cathedral.
Extra statues are stored in the space between the towers and behind the gallery of kings. The statues are roughly 15 ft tall.
Close up, extra statue, Reims Cathedral.
Looking up into one of the towers at Reims Cathedral. Unfortunately, the roof tour did not include a climb to the top of the towers.
This framing supports the roof and also provides support for the ceiling of the nave.
A fanciful gutterspout on the west facade of the cathedral. No two gutterspouts or statues were the same.
The Palais du Tau, which is next to the cathedral, was the palace of the Archbishop of Reims. It’s name comes from its T-shaped form (“tau” in Greek). It was also he residence of the kings of France before their coronation in Notre-Dame de Reims. Today, it is a museum with relics from the cathedral.
This is a copy of the crown of Louis XV. The original crown resides in the Louvre. The crown has 282 diamonds, 16 rubies, 16 emeralds, 16 sapphires, 16 topazes and 230 pearls.
A king’s coronation was celebrated with a banquet in this hall.
The Goliath Room holds sculptures form the mid 13th century. The largest statue, representing Goliath, is 5.4 m tall.
Fun details, such as this face, are found throughout the Palais du Tau and the cathedral.
Performers in period costumes, even while on break, added to the historic experience.
With careful cropping, one could almost be transported back to the 19th century.
The battle of Verdun did not take place in the town of Verdun, it was fought over the fortifications in the hills to the north of the town. During the course of the battle nine villages were obliterated, one of which was Fleury devant Douaumont.
The rolling nature of the ground is the result of the bombardment. Fleury devant Douaumont was completely destroyed and it is officially declared a village that “died for France.” The village has never been reconstructed and remains as a testament to the Great War.
Throughout the village markers indicate what had existed before the battle. This marker shows where the school was.
The legend of the Trench of Bayonets is that in 1919 Colonel Collet, reviewing the ground over which his unit had fought, discovered a row of rifles, many with bayonets affixed, sticking out of the ground. Excavations determined that it had been a trench and a corpse was found beneath each rifle. The accepted explanation is that the artillery bombardment hit the trench directly, killing all and entombing them. There are skeptics but as was said in “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” The Trench of Bayonets, real or legend, is a symbol of the horrors of World War I.
Piece of steel protruding from the earth at the Trench of Bayonets.
The Douaumont Ossuary contains the skeletal remains of French and German soldiers who died during the 300 days of the Battle of Verdun in 1916. The skeletal remains of at least 130,000 unidentified people can be seen through small windows at ground level. The bones are not stacked neatly but are in heaping piles. The cemetery in front of the ossuary is the largest single French military cemetery of the First World War and contains 16,142 graves.
The ceiling and walls of the interior of the ossuary are partially covered with plaques bearing the names of French soldiers who died during the battle.
The windows transform the outside light into orange, bathing the interior with an eerie glow.
Parting Shot
Baugettes in a backpack in the church square. How wonderfully French!