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Reims
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The city of Reims (alternative English spelling Rheims; in English and in French) lies in the Champagne-Ardenne region in northeastern France 129 km (80 miles) east-northeast of Paris.
Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire.
Reims played a very important role in French history, as the traditional site of the crowning of the kings of France. The most famous and cherished of these events was the coronation of Charles VII in 1429 in the company of Joan of Arc.
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Encyclopedia
The city of Reims (alternative English spelling Rheims; in English and in French) lies in the Champagne-Ardenne region in northeastern France 129 km (80 miles) east-northeast of Paris.
Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire.
Reims played a very important role in French history, as the traditional site of the crowning of the kings of France. The most famous and cherished of these events was the coronation of Charles VII in 1429 in the company of Joan of Arc. Thus, the Cathedral of Reims (damaged by the Germans during the First World War but restored since) played the same role in France as Westminster Abbey did in England. It was there that was kept the Holy Ampulla (Sainte Ampoule) containing the Saint Chrême (chrism), which was said to have been brought by a white dove (the Holy Spirit) at the baptism of Clovis in 496, and was used for the anointing, the most important part of the coronation of French kings.
Some sources regard Reims as the capital of the province of Champagne,
given its size as by far the largest city in the region.
The 2008 census recorded 188,078 inhabitants (Rémoises (feminine) and Rémois) in the city of Reims proper (the commune), and 291,735 inhabitants in the whole metropolitan area (aire urbaine).
Administration
Reims functions as a sous-préfecture of the Marne département, in the Champagne-Ardenne administrative région. Although by far the largest commune in both the Champagne-Ardenne region and the Marne department, Reims is neither the capital nor préfecture of either; Châlons-en-Champagne being the capital and prefecture of both.
Geography
Reims stands in a plain on the right bank of the Vesle River, a tributary of the Aisne River, and on the Canal de l'Aisne à la Marne, which connects the Aisne with the Marne River. South and west rise the Montagne de Reims and vine-clad hills.
History
- For the ecclesiastical history, see Archbishopric of Reims
Before the Roman conquest of northern Gaul, Reims, as Durocortorum, served as the capital of the tribe of the Remi, from whose name that of the town was subsequently derived. The Remi made voluntary submission to the Romans, and by their fidelity throughout the various Gallic insurrections secured the special favour of their conquerors.
Christianity had become established in the town by the middle of the 3rd century, at which period Saint Sixtus of Reims founded the Reims bishopric. The consul Jovinus, an influential supporter of the new faith, repulsed the barbarians who invaded Champagne in 336; but the Vandals captured the town in 406 and slew St Nicasius, and Attila the Hun afterwards put it to fire and sword.
In 496, ten years after Clovis, King of the Salian Franks, won his victory at Soissons (486), Remigius, the bishop of Reims, baptized him in a ceremony with the oil of the sacred phial which was believed to have been brought from heaven by a dove for the baptism of Clovis and was preserved in the Abbey of Saint-Remi. For centuries the events at the crowning of Clovis I became a symbol used by the monarchy to claim the divine right to rule.
Meetings of Pope Stephen II (752-757) with Pepin the Short, and of Pope Leo III (795-816) with Charlemagne (died 814), took place at Reims; and here Pope Stephen IV crowned Louis the Debonnaire in 816. Louis IV gave the town and countship of Reims to the archbishop Artaldus in 940. Louis VII gave the title of duke and peer to William of Champagne, archbishop from 1176 to 1202, and the archbishops of Reims took precedence of the other ecclesiastical peers of the realm.
By the 10th century Reims had become a centre of intellectual culture, Archbishop Adalberon (in office 969 to 988), seconded by the monk Gerbert (afterwards (from 999 to 1003) Pope Silvester II), having founded schools which taught the "liberal arts". Adalberon was also one of the prime authors of the revolution which put the Capetian dynasty in the place of the Carolingians.
The archbishops held the important prerogative of the consecration of the kings of France — a privilege which they exercised, except in a few cases, from the time of Philippe II Augustus (annointed 1179, reigned 1180-1223) to that of Charles X (annointed 1825). Louis VII granted the town a communal charter in 1139. The Treaty of Troyes (1420) ceded it to the English, who had made a futile attempt to take it by siege in 1360; but they were expelled on the approach of Joan of Arc, who in 1429 caused Charles VII to be consecrated in the cathedral. A revolt at Reims, caused by the salt tax in 1461, was cruelly repressed by Louis XI. The town sided with the Catholic League (1585), but submitted to Henri IV after the battle of Ivry (1590).
In the invasions of the War of the Sixth Coalition in 1814, allied armies captured and recaptured Reims; in 1870–1871, during the Franco-Prussian War, the victorious Germans made it the seat of a governor-general and impoverished it with heavy requisitions.
In August 1909 Reims hosted the first international Aviation meet. Major aviation personages such as Glenn Curtiss, Louis Blériot and Louis Paulhan participated.
Hostilities in World War I greatly damaged the city. German bombardment and a subsequent fire in 1914 did severe damage to the cathedral. The ruined cathedral became one of the central images of anti-German propaganda produced in France during the war, citing it, along with the ruins of the Cloth Hall at Ypres and the University Library in Louvain, as evidence that German aggression targeted the cultural landmarks of European civilization. After the war, the cathedral was rebuilt from the ruins in the course of the next 40 years. The Palace of Tau, St Jacques Church and the Abbey of St Remi also were protected and restored. The collection of preserved buildings and Roman ruins remains monumentally impressive.
During World War II the town suffered additional damage. But in Reims, at 2:41 on the morning of May 7, 1945, General Eisenhower and the Allies received the unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht. General Alfred Jodl, German Chief-of-Staff, signed the surrender at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) as the representative for Chancellor Karl Dönitz.
Sights
Streets and squares
The principal squares of Reims include the Place Royale, with a statue of Louis XV, and the Place Cardinal-Luçon, with an equestrian statue of Joan of Arc. The Rue de Vesle, the chief street, continued under other names, traverses the town from southwest to northwest, passing through the Place Royale.
Place Drouet d'Erlon in the city centre contains many lively restaurants and bars, and several attractive statues and fountains. During the summer it fills with people sitting outside the many cafés enjoying the summer sun, and in December it has a lively and charming Christmas market.
Roman remains
The oldest monument in Reims, the Porte de Mars ("Mars Gate", so called from a temple to Mars in the neighbourhood), a triumphal arch 108 ft. in length by 43 in height, consists of three archways flanked by columns. Popular tradition tells that the Remi erected it in honour of Augustus when Agrippa made the great roads terminating at the town, but it probably belongs to the 3rd or 4th century. The Mars Gate was one of 4 Roman gates to the city walls, which were restored at the time of the Norman Invasion of northern France in the 9th century. In its vicinity a curious mosaic, measuring 36 ft. by 26, with thirty-five medallions representing animals and gladiators, was discovered in 1860.
Note too the Gallo-Roman sarcophagus, said to be that of the consul Jovinus (see below), preserved in the archaeological museum in the cloister of the abbey of Saint-Remi.
Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Reims
Many people know Reims for its cathedral, Notre-Dame de Reims, the place of coronation of former kings of France. The cathedral was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1991, along with the former Abbey of Saint-Remi and the Palace of Tau.
Palace of Tau
The archiepiscopal palace, built between 1498 and 1509, and in part rebuilt in 1675, served as the residence of the kings of France on the occasion of their coronations. The saloon (salle du Tau), where the royal banquet took place, has an immense stone chimney from the 15th century. The chapel of the archiepiscopal palace consists of two storeys, of which the upper still serves as a place of worship. Both the chapel and the salle du Tau are decorated with tapestries of the 17th century, known as the Perpersack tapestries, after the Flemish weaver who executed them. The palace has been opened to the public in 1972 as a museum containing such exhibits as statues formerly displayed by the cathedral, treasures of the cathedral from past centuries, and royal attire from coronations of French kings.
Saint Rémi of Reims Basilica
Saint Rémi Basilica, an easy one-mile walk from the Cathedral of Notre Dame of Reims, takes its name from the 5th century Saint Rémi — revered as the patron saint of the inhabitants of Reims for more than 15 centuries. The basilica is almost equal in size to the cathedral. Adjacent to the basilica is an important abbey, formerly known as the Royal Abbey of St Rémi. The abbey sought to trace its heritage back to St Rémi, while the present abbey building dates back to the 17th and 18th centuries.
The St Rémi Basilica dates from the 11th, 12th, 13th and 15th centuries. Most of the construction of the church finished in the 11th century, with additions made in later centuries. The nave and transepts, Romanesque in style, date mainly from the earliest, the façade of the south transept from the latest of those periods, the choir and apse chapels from the 12th and 13th centuries. The 17th and 19th centuries saw further additions. The building was greatly damaged in World War I, and was rebuilt from the ruins in the following 40 years through the meticulous restoration work of architect Henri Deneux. It is still the seat of an active Catholic parish holding regular worship services and welcoming pilgrims. It has been classified as an historical monument since 1841 and is one of the pinnacles of the history of art and of the history of France.
The public can visit the abbey building, the Saint-Rémi Museum. The abbey closed in the wake of the French Revolution, as all French monasteries were ordered dissolved in February 1790. The museum exhibits at St Rémi include tapestries from the 16th century given by Robert de Lenoncourt, marble capitals from the 4th century AD, furniture, jewellery, pottery, weapons and glasswork from the 6th to 8th century, medieval sculpture, the façade of the 13th century Musicians' House, remnants from an earlier abbey building, and also exhibits of Gallo-Roman arts and crafts and a room of pottery, jewellery, and weapons from Gallic civilization, as well as an exhibit of items from the Palaeolithic to the Neolithic period.
In the monastery the archbishops of Reims and several kings and princes lie buried:
Forts
In 1874 the construction of a chain of detached forts started in the vicinity, the French Army having selected Reims as one of the chief defences of the northern approaches of Paris. The ridge of St Thierry is crowned with a fort of the same name, which with the neighbouring work of Chenay closes the west side of the place. To the north the hill of Brimont has three works guarding the Laon railway and the Aisne canal. Farther east, on the old Roman road, lies the Fort de Fresnes. Due east the hills of Arnay are crowned with five large and important works which cover the approaches from the upper Aisne. Forts Pompelle and Montbré close the south-east side, and the Falaise hills on the Paris side are open and unguarded. The perimeter of the defences is not quite 22 miles, and the forts are a mean distance of 6 miles from the centre of the city.
Other buildings
The Church of St Jacques dates from the 13th to the 16th centuries. A few blocks from the cathedral, it stands in a vibrant neighborhood of shopping and restaurants. What remains of the Abbey of St. Denis is now a Fine Arts Museum. The old College of the Jesuits is also now a museum. St Maurice (partly rebuilt in 1867), St André, and St Thomas (erected from 1847 to 1853, under the patronage of Cardinal Gousset, now buried within its walls), are of some interest.
The town hall, erected in the 17th and enlarged in the 19th century, has a pediment with an equestrian statue of Louis XIII (reigned 1610 to 1643), and a tall and elegant campanile.
The Surrender Museum stands on the spot where on May 7, 1945, General Eisenhower and the Allies received the unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht.
Wine
Reims, along with Épernay and Ay, operates as one of the centers of champagne-production. Many of the largest Champagne producing houses, known as les grandes marques, have their headquarters in Reims, and most open for tasting and tours by appointment. Champagne ages in the many caves and tunnels under Reims, which form a sort of maze below the city. Carved from chalk, some of these passages date back to Roman times.
Sport
Between 1925 and 1969 Reims hosted the Grand Prix de la Marne automobile race at the circuit of Reims-Gueux. The French Grand Prix took place here 14 times between 1938 and 1966.
The football club Stade Reims, based in the town, competes in Ligue 2, the second tier of French football. Stade Reims was the outstanding team of France in the 1950s and early 1960s and reached the final of the European Cup of Champions twice in that era.
Notable residents
Those born in Reims include:
- Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683), who served as the French minister of finance from 1665 to 1683 during the reign of King Louis XIV
- Jean-Baptiste de la Salle (1651-1719), Catholic saint, teacher and educational reformer
- Nicolas de Grigny (1672-1703), organist and composer
- Jean-Baptiste Drouet, Count d'Erlon (1765-1844), marshal of France and a soldier in Napoleon's army
- Nicolas Eugène Géruzez (1799-1865), critic
- Adolphe d'Archiac (1802-1868), geologist and paleontologist
- Paul Fort (1872-1960), poet
- Henri Marteau (1874-1934), violinist and composer
- Maurice Halbwachs (1877-1945), philosopher and sociologist
- Roger Caillois (1913-1978), intellectual
- Jean Baudrillard (1929-2007), cultural theorist and philosopher
- Patrick Poivre d'Arvor (born 1947), television journalist and writer
- Robert Pirès (born 1973), World Cup winner, footballer for Arsenal and for Villarreal CF
- Adeline Wuillème (born December 8, 1975), foil fencer
- Paul de Dinechin, cellist
Affiliations
Reims has twin-city links with:
Salzburg, Austria (1964)
Aachen, Germany (1967)
Canterbury, United Kingdom (1962)
Florence, Italy (1954)
Arlington County, Virginia, United States (2005)
See also
External links
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- - Official site for L'Office de Tourisme de Reims (in English and French)
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- - Translation by Allen Williamson of the letter dictated by Joan of Arc to the city of Reims on August 5, 1429.
- - Letter dictated by Joan of Arc to the city of Reims on March 16, 1430, translated by Allen Williamson.
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