Rheims

Rheims

An important French city in the department of Marne, on the Vesle, 100 m. NE. of Paris; as the former ecclesiastical metropolis of France it has historical associations of peculiar interest; the French monarchs were crowned in the cathedral (a Gothic structure of unique beauty) from 1179 to 1825; has a beautiful 12th-century Romanesque church, an archiepiscopal palace, a Roman triumphal arch, a Lycée, statues, &c.; situated in a rich wine district, it is one of the chief champagne entrepôts, and is also one of the main centres of French textiles, especially woollen goods; is strongly fortified.