Rheims

Rheims is a city of 180 thousand¹ located along the Vesle River,² in the Marne Department of the Champagne-Ardenne Region of France. The city is best known for its cathedral, with its famous west front, that was built in the 13th through the 16th centuries (though restored after fires and wars as late as the 20th century). The stained glass is from many years, the oldest in 1235, and some of the newest designed by Marc Chagall in the 20th century.³ The cathedral, the former Abbey of Saint-Rémi and the Palace of Tau together constitute a UNESCO World Heritage site. Twenty five kings were crowned in the cathedral (and more in its predecessors). King "Clovis"⁴ I was baptised in the abbey, whose nave dates to the ninth century.⁵ The archibishop's Palace of Tau, now a museum, was completed in 1693.³

External references

west side of cathedral of Rheims, Marne Department, Champagne-Ardenne Region, France

Footnotes

1. Figure for 2010 in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_communes_in_France_with_over_20,000_inhabitants, accessed 2/5/2015.
2. A tributary of the Aisne, which flows into the Oise, which flows into the Seine. The Canal of the Aisne and the Marne flows parallel to this portion of the river.
3. Emporis.com, accessed 4/9/2015.
4. Latin is Chlodovechus; reconstructed Frankish is Chlodowig, according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clovis_I, accessed 4/9/2015.
5. UNESCO, World Heritage Sites (Firefly Books, 2010). Emporis.com, op. cit., says construction of the abbey's basilica began in 1005.