Reims Cathedral

Reims Cathedral, the first church on the site of the present Reims Cathedral in north-eastern France, said to have been built c. 300. A new cathedral was built by Bishop Nicasius c. 400 and it was there that the Frankish king Clovis was baptized a Christian in 496. A further rebuilding was completed c. 862. The ancient cathedral was completely razed in a fire in 1210 and the foundation stone of the present building laid the next year. Construction work extended over 30 years, though the decorations and furnishings were added over the next two centuries—most of the original fittings were later destroyed by liturgical reformers and by Revolutionary iconoclasts. The cathedral was temporarily a “temple of reason” during the Revolution and was severely damaged by German shells in 1914, but was faithfully restored and finally reopened in 1937. The exterior is rich in carved decoration (much of it painstakingly repaired after 1914) which extends throughout the interior—typically French in its lofty proportions. The choir terminates in an apse with radiating chapels. The cathedral was the coronation church of 24 kings of France, from Louis VIII to Charles X (in 1825). Charles VII was crowned there on July 17, 1429, in the presence of Joan of Arc.