Se tendre la main est bien, se tendre le cœur est mieux. La paix est engendrée au laboratoire d'amour, les minerais de ce laboratoire sont la justice et la charité.
- Monseigneur François Mitty, Archbishop of Reims, during the mass of reconciliation attended by General de Gaulle of France and Chancellor Konrad Adenauer of Germany in Reims Cathedral on July 8 1962.
The agreement ending World War II was signed in Reims Cathedral on May 7, 1945. The cathedral that had been hit by no less than 288 shells in the First World War, destroying its wooden roof and many of its 13th-century stained glass windows.
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| Reims in 1916 |
The roof has now been replaced with a fireproof concrete one, and new stained glass windows have been made by 20th century artists including Marc Chagall.
But Reims had a long and glorious history well before all that. Founded as the capital of the Remi tribe in 80 BC, the city enjoyed special favour in the Roman Empire as a result of allying itself with the Romans during their conquest of Gaul. Reims had a population of 50,000 or more in Roman times, when it was known as Durocorturum; it was later (wisely) decided to rename the town Remi after its original inhabitants, which became Remos in the accusative case and thence Reims in French. Which sounds much nicer than Durocorturum, even the way the French pronounce it, Ras. Or rather, with a rolled R, Rrrrras!
Reims was already a Christian city by the year 260, when it became a diocese. In 496 the bishop Remigius, known as Saint Remi in French, baptised Clovis, the king of the Franks, in what is now the Basilica of Saint-Remi.
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| Basilica of Saint-Remi |
The holy oil used to baptise Clovis, said to have been brought to Saint Remi from heaven by a dove, was kept in a vial, and drops of it were henceforth used to anoint the crowned heads of France. The events surrounding the coronation of Clovis I thus became a symbol of the monarchy's divine right to rule, and gave the Archbishop of Reims the special power to consecrate the kings of France.
The Palace of Tau, next door to the cathedral, built between 1498 and 1509 and partly rebuilt in 1675, served as the Archbishop's palace and as the residence of the kings of France on the occasion of their coronations. Unfortunately it is currently closed for renovations and covered in scaffolding, as is the fine arts museum: two of the major attractions in Reims!
Other than the cathedral and the Basilica of Saint-Remi, I did not find Reims a particularly attractive city. However it did offer an opportunity to go shopping and stock up on supplies!
I walked into the city along the canal, and I will walk out of it the same way, rather than following the Via Francigena route through the city centre, which I have already seen today. My hostel, the glamorously named Centre Internationale de Sejour Champagne, is right on the bank of the canal, so I could drop off my bag before going into the town centre this morning, and I will be able to bypass the town centre and head straight onto the trail tomorrow!
Today's accommodations: Centre Internationale de Sejour de Champagne
Almost halfway across France!!
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