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Paradoxplace France Photo Galleries Links to all French Cathedral and Abbey Photo Pages in Paradoxplace
Cathédrale Notre Dame, Reims (Champagne)
MAP OF THE FRENCH PILGRIMS' ROADS TO SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA EARLY MEDIEVAL FRENCH SAINTS, KINGS AND QUEENS
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Reims Cathedral was built on the site of the church where, tradition has it, on Christmas Eve 496 (or maybe 498) St-Remi (c437 - c533 (96)) baptiized the powerful Clovis I (c466 - 511 (44)) who having previously fought his way to being the first King of all the Franks, now transformed into the first Christian King of all the the Franks. In this tradition, for more than 1000 years (from 816 - 1825) thirty five sovereigns of the Franks and then France came to the Cathedral to be crowned.
The present cathedral was built between 1211 and 1280. Although it was intended that the new building would have proper spired towers, events and lack of resources prevented this ever happening.
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View from the north-west
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World War I
Reims suffered terribly at the barrels of German artillery in World War I. The main roof of the Abbey of St-Remi was destroyed, as was the south aisle roof of the cathedral - the south aisle columns still show the marks left by artillery shells. Many of the windows and statues were smashed. The town itself was literally flattened, with the population dwindling to almost nothing by the time the war finished. It took 20 years to rebuild the cathedral, work aided greatly by money from the Rockefeller Foundation, and the restored building was inaugurated in July 1938, just in time for .....
Amongst the cathedral treasures smashed was the famous "smiling angel" statue in the central west doorway. Luckily, in the late 1800s Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, both saviour and ruiner (when he redesigned them as he thought they should have been built in the first place) of many medieval buildings, had been behind the setting up of the Musée National des Monuments Français in Paris. This contains faithful copies of everything medieval from tympanums down, and it was to this collection that Reims turned to get the new smiler who, in 2007, remained bubbly despite the loss of her right wing.
Right: The south aisle (looking west), which lost its roof vaults to WW I German artillery.
Below: The nave - lots of light because there is no stained glass.
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The cathedral's east end
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MORE PHOTOS FROM THE PALAIS DU TAU
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The story of the creation in the upper panels of the north rose - the oldest of the Cathedral's rose windows.
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MORE PHOTOS FROM THE NORTH PORTAL AND ROSE WINDOW
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Sculptor's revenge - from the right - a king, a bishop, an abbot and two well heeled ladies await, in chains, their turn to enter the cauldron of hell.
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All original material on this site © Adrian Fletcher 2000-08 - The contents may not be hotlinked, or reproduced without permission
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