Located just 45 minutes from Paris by TGV, Reims is at first sight a real history book open air.
Chosen as the city of the coronations of the kings of France in memory of the baptism of Clovis, the city has since been shaped by every great moment in the history of France. This prestigious past leaves a legacy of monuments now listed on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Site, including the famous Notre-Dame Cathedral.
Over 2,000 years of history, Reims has always known how to evolve with the times. It is now a city where it is good to live and stroll along its streets with architecture marked by the Art Deco style, to taste the pleasures of gastronomy in its many restaurants or enjoy the benefits of the countryside surrounding.
Dive into a concentrated part of France
Guided tours, cultural activities, visits to the cellars of the great Champagne houses or small producers, Champagne vineyard tours… The list of things to do in and around Reims doesn’t stop there! More information here.
Bishop Remi baptized Clovis towards the end of the 5th century, on the site of the current cathedral. This conversion to Christianity of the King of the Franks was the founding act of the emergence of the nation French. Legend has it that the Holy Ampulla containing the holy chrism used to anoint Clovis was sent by God, descending in the form of a dove.
The small vial, which was used in the coronation ceremony of the kings that followed, was destroyed at the French Revolution. Some of its content had previously been removed and transferred to the archdiocese of the city, where it is still kept today.
Reims will have hosted a total of 33 coronations, including that of Charles VII, led by Joan of Arc on July 14 1429. This event is still celebrated every spring during the Johannic Festivals.
Cruelly marked by world conflicts, Reims has a military collection of great richness reminding visitors that Reims was a stronghold of resistance during the First World War world. Reims is now a symbol of peace. On May 7, 1945, the act that put an end to the World War II in Europe, and Reims will forever remain the city of Franco-German reconciliation.
Notre-Dame Cathedral is one of the major achievements of Gothic art in Europe, both for its unity of style (13th century architecture-15th), its luminosity, and its statuary (2,303 elements carved). It was within it that the ritual of the coronation of the King of France took place. Place of the civil coronation ceremony, the adjoining Tau Palace was the residence of the Archbishop of Reims.
Today museum of the coronations and the treasure of the Cathedral, the place is among the visits must-sees in the city. Saint-Remi Abbey, a former royal abbey whose vocation was to keep the Holy Ampulla, houses the eponymous museum dedicated to regional history and archaeology. Its sober and majestic Romanesque-Gothic basilica watches over the tomb of Saint Remi. All three are inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The unearths of nuggets will prefer the Museum of Fine Arts, one of the most beautiful funds of province which, in addition to a collection of portraits by Cranach and a series of 26 landscapes by Corot, offers a very fine collection of all the artistic currents of the 19th century.
Reims is also home to an anthology of 1920s architecture in which the Art style triumphs deco. Resulting from the reconstruction of the city after the First World War, the library Carnegie, the villa of Maître Douce or the Saint-Nicaise church are superb illustrations of this, OTGR – Communication Platform 2022 Confidential but one can also discover marvelous treasures of this period randomly in the streets and facades.
The city attracted many master glassmakers, exhibits magnificent stained glass windows from the 12th and 13th centuries centuries as well as contemporary works by Marc Chagall for the cathedral, Vieira da Silva and Sima for the Saint-Jacques church or René Lalique for the Saint-Nicaise church.
Many parks and gardens allow, even in the city center, to take a break, to relax or play sports outdoors. Paradise for walkers, cyclists and runners, a pedestrian path, the green corridor, runs along the canal that crosses Reims and stretches over about twenty kilometers. At the exit of the city, an ocean of vines sublimates the horizon and covers the northern hillside of the Mountain of Reims where extends the Regional Natural Park of the same name.
This prime natural area occupies a vast promontory with multiple facets alternating prestigious vineyards, forests of exception, agricultural land, valleys and waterways. The park is home to an astonishing curiosity, a place of privileged promenade of the Rémois: the world’s main concentration of twisting beeches, the false by Verzy village.
Most of the great Champagne houses have their headquarters in Reims and welcome visitors to their cellars.
Among these 120 kilometers of underground galleries, spectacular « chalk pits », ancient quarries for extracting chalk, a building material used from the 5th century. The houses there store their tens of millions of bottles thanks to the ideal storage conditions of the wine they provide. Some wells can go up to 70 meters deep!
