Reims - June 24th to 27th
Reims was founded by the Gauls in 80 BC, and became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire. Reims played a prominent ceremonial role in French monarchical history as the traditional site of the crowning of the kings of France.
Christianity had become established in the city by 260, at which period Saint Sixtus of Reims founded the bishopric of Reims. The consul Jovinus, an influential supporter of the new faith, repelled the Alamanni who invaded Champagne in 336; but the Vandals captured the city in 406 and slew Bishop Nicasius; and in 451 Attila the Hun put Reims to fire and sword.
By the 10th century Reims had become a centre of intellectual culture.
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.
During World War II the city suffered additional damage. But in Reims, at 2:41 on the morning of 7 May 1945, General Eisenhower and the Allies received the unconditional surrender of the German Wehrmacht.
Notre-Dame de Reims
The cathedral was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and is famous for being the traditional location for the coronation of the kings of France. Construction of Reims Cathedral began in the 13th century and concluded in the 15th century. It was built to replace an earlier church, destroyed by fire in 1221.
Reims Cathedral Gargoyle
On 12 September, 1914, the German Army decided to place their wounded in the cathedral and spread 15,000 bales of straw on the floor of the cathedral for this purpose. That day, however, the town was evacuated of German soldiers before the French entered the city. Six days later, a shell exploded in the bishop's palace, killing three and injuring 15. Scaffolding around the north tower caught fire, spreading the blaze to all parts of the timber frame superstructure. The lead in the roofing melted and poured through the stone gargoyles, destroying in turn the bishop's palace.
Abbey of Saint-Remi
The Abbey of Saint-Remi is an abbey in Reims, France, founded in the sixth century. Since 1099[1] it has conserved the relics of Saint Remi (died 553), the Bishop of Reims who converted Clovis, King of the Franks, to Christianity at Christmas in AD 496, after he defeated the Alamanni in the Battle of Tolbiac.
