# Rheims : the capital of Champagne



## Giri (Jan 28, 2005)

Technically, it's no more the "capital" of Champagne as Châlons is but it shouldn't prevent the French people from considering that it's unfair. Rheims (Reims in French) is the true France : large plains scattered with big and venerable old towns, a cathedral expressing the genius of the people of this country, wine and an industrious mindset.

Rheims embodies the French spirit and the Latin heritage not far from the border with the Germanic lands. Catholicism, our Kings, bourgeoisie. Placenames don't lie : a mix of Celtic settlements (Rheims, Châlons, ...), Roman villae (Epernay, Vrigny, Mutigny, ...), Germanic villages (Heutrégiville, Warmeriville, ...) and above all those medieval creations (Cormontreuil < Curtis Monasteriolis, Châtillon < Castillonem ).

This is where Clovis was baptised, where Colbert was born, where France had to suffer the most from German criminal commissions with the bombing of the cathedral. The town was mostly destroyed in 1918 : it was rebuilt in Art-Nouveau and Art-Déco style with much ecclectism. IMO, you don't understand the defeat of 1940 if you don't take into account that the heart of France had been demolished just 20 years before.


Time for a little tour beginning with the rail-station in the outskirts of the town :



















Reaching the centre-town :














































Rue Eugène-Desteuque near the Cathedral in the centre-town :



















Around the Cathedral :














































Details of the Cathedral :




























Visiting the centre-town :



























Colbert Street :










Place Royale :




























Pommery Castle :



















Saint-Remi Basilica where Remi is buried :










































































Around "Porte de Mars", a Roman ruin :






































The Foujita Chapel :



















L'Hôtel de Brimont :










Rheims from the towers of the Cathedral :























































The Basilica :










Saint-André :










The Town Hall :










Place Royale :










In the distance in the South, the "Montagne de Reims" :










Let's leave the town for the neighbouring countryside ("Montagne de Reims") around Epernay (on the right), known of its Champagne :









Full Scale

Moët et Chandon and other Champagne castles :




























Cumières :










Epernay as seen from the heights of Hautvillers :










Dizy :










Chamery :










Sermiers :










Rheims as seen from the "mountains" :










Rilly-la-Montagne :


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## WrathChild (Aug 4, 2007)

So far, every place/city I've seen from France looks fabulous. Seriously, what a great country. A fucking amazing capital city, gorgeous cities all over the place, great countryside, great looking little villages and towns, nice weather everywhere... what else can one ask for?


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## El Mariachi (Nov 1, 2007)

nice set dude


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## geoff189d (Jun 4, 2005)

I really like the city centre.


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## warden987 (Jul 6, 2009)

Rheims looks gorgeous.:cheers:


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Really good photos/shots of Rheims, thanks for those


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## Bristol Mike (Aug 5, 2007)

Great pictures there - as has already been said, what another incredibly attractive French town/city.


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## WinoSoul (Sep 14, 2005)

Awesome!


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## Geborgenheit (Sep 9, 2005)

The Gothic cathedral is beautiful.


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## Askario (Nov 13, 2007)

Very nice European city kay:


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## christos-greece (Feb 19, 2008)

Indeed, the cathedral of Rheims is really beautiful


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## Vagamundo. (Apr 11, 2009)

lovely mosaic of architecture! nice thread.


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## cameronpaul (Jan 15, 2010)

Thanks for the photos, especially the interior of the great cathedral. Some years back I was going to visit Rheims while on an extended holiday in Paris but a French friend discouraged me saying there was not much to see, but judging by these photos I think he was being a bit unfair - that's the trouble when you come from Paris you think most other (smaller) places are not worth seeing!


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## Jonesy55 (Jul 30, 2004)

Nice photo set! I don't think I've seen any Reims threads on ssc before, its a city I visited two or three times in the 80s and 90s on my trips to nearby Fismes. 

I remember visiting the Mumm champagne cellars but my parents wouldn't let me sample any


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## groentje (Apr 15, 2006)

I can only agree with the previous comments. Very nice city and dito photos.


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## brisavoine (Mar 19, 2006)

Jonesy55 said:


> Nice photo set! I don't think I've seen any Reims threads on ssc before, its a city I visited two or three times in the 80s and 90s on my trips to nearby Fismes.
> 
> I remember visiting the Mumm champagne cellars but my parents wouldn't let me sample any


^^Why on God's green Earth did you go to Fismes three times in the 80s and 90s? :?


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## Jonesy55 (Jul 30, 2004)

^^ :lol: I think I went to fismes 4 times actually, with day trips to Reims on 2 or 3 occasions. 

It is twinned with the town I grew up in and where my parents still live, so I visited once on a school exchange and also families from our town would go and stay there one year while the people of fismes would come to visit us in alternate years.


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## brisavoine (Mar 19, 2006)

^^I'll never understand how these crazy town twinnings work anyway. It's like you live in a peaceful town of Western Europe, everything is going fine, and next thing you know, your town is twinned with a place in Kazakhstan that you've never heard about and whose name you can't even pronounce.

I mean, how on Earth did the people in the Shrewbury local council heard about Fismes in the first place? Did they just unfold a Michelin map of France on the council board table, flipped a coin and looked on which town of France the coin had fallen?

PS: It would have made more sense for Shrewbury to twin with Dinan or something like that.

PPS: Just imagine if the coin had fallen on Maripasoula.


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## aster4000 (Jan 28, 2010)

pretty nice city and the gothic cathedral is really awesome!


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## Jonesy55 (Jul 30, 2004)

brisavoine said:


> ^^I'll never understand how these crazy town twinnings work anyway. It's like you live in a peaceful town of Western Europe, everything is going fine, and next thing you know, your town is twinned with a place in Kazakhstan that you've never heard about and whose name you can't even pronounce.
> 
> I mean, how on Earth did the people in the Shrewbury local council heard about Fismes in the first place? Did they just unfold a Michelin map of France on the council board table, flipped a coin and looked on which town of France the coin had fallen?
> 
> ...


The town i grew up which is twinned with Fismes is a small market town some 20km north of shrewsbury called Wem. I don't know how the twinning happened, it is indeed strange how these things come to pas
Shrewsbury is only twinned with Zutphen in the Netherlands! I have never visited


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## brisavoine (Mar 19, 2006)

Jonesy55 said:


> Shrewsbury is only twinned with Zutphen in the Netherlands!


That reminds me of Zuytpeene. That was always the last town at the end of the French phone book. The name looked so weird to us.


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## DWest (Dec 3, 2009)

nice city and it's bigger than I thought.


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## nain-bleu (Jul 23, 2007)

Here are a few then and now pictures i gathered. ^^


Place de la République


















Avenue Gambetta


















Cours Langlet


















Eglise Ste-Clotilde


















Le Cirque de Reims


















Place d’Erlon


















Place d’Erlon


















Place Godinot


















Place Royale


















Place Royale


















Place Royale


















Passerelle Epernay


















Porte de Mars


















Rue Colbert


















Rue Colbert


















Rue de l’Etape


















Rue de Talleyrand


















Rue du Dr Joaquin


















Rue Libergier


















Le Théârte


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