Reims Cathedral

Overview

Reims was the traditional place where the kings of France were crowned, and the cathedral is counted among the most important works of Gothic architecture. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991.

History

Each paragraph says whether it is documented history, a tradition handed down, or disputed.

• Tradition

  The cathedral is thought to have been founded by Bishop Nicasius in the early fifth century, and Clovis, the first Frankish king to be baptised, was baptised here by Bishop Remigius about a century later.

• Documented

  The present cathedral was begun in the thirteenth century, after a fire in 1210 destroyed the earlier church, and completed in the fourteenth.

• Documented

  It was severely damaged in the First World War and restored in the twentieth century. Since the law of 1905 separating Church and State it has belonged to the French state, with the Catholic Church having its exclusive use.

Sources