Reims is a city of the Champagne-Ardenne région of northern France,
standing 144 km (89 miles) east-northeast of Paris.
It was founded by the Gauls and became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire.
Reims played a very important role in French history, as it was the place where the kings
of France were crowned.
The most famous and cherished of these events was the coronation of Charles VII
in the company of Joan of Arc.
Thus, the Cathedral of Reims (damaged by the Germans during the First World War
but restored since) played the same role in France as Westminster Abbey did in England.
It was there that was kept the Holy Ampulla (Sainte Ampoule) containing the Saint Chrême (chrism),
which was said to have been brought by a white dove (the Holy Spirit) at the baptism of Clovis in 496,
and was used for the anointing, the most important part of the coronation of French kings.
Reims is often considered as the capital of Champagne, an old province of France,
world-famous for its sparkling wine (Champagne) because it is by far the largest city in the region.
At the 1999 census, there were 187,206 inhabitants (Rémoises (feminine) and Rémois)
in the city of Reims proper (the commune), while there were 291,735 inhabitants in the whole
metropolitan area (aire urbaine).
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Reims
Laid flat by the bombs
of World War I, REIMS (pronounced like a nasal "Rance")
may give the first impression of being a large industrial centre
with little to redeem it. However, the town is not as large as
it looks, and there are other reasons for visiting here: apart
from its status as champagne capital of the world, Reims possesses
one of the most impressive Gothic cathedrals in France - formerly
the coronation church of dynasties of French monarchs going back
to Clovis, first king of the Franks - whose 1500th anniversary
celebrations in 1996 provoked fierce controversy between Catholics
and secularists.
The old centre of Reims
stretches from the cathedral and its adjacent episcopal palace
north to place de la République's triumphal Roman arch,
the Porte de Mars, punctuated by the grand squares of place Royale,
place du Forum and place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville. Over to the
south, about fifteen minutes' walk from the cathedral, is the
other historical focus of the town, the Abbaye de St-Remi , and
nearby the Jesuits' College . To the east of here are most of
the champagne maisons and, further east still, a museum of cars.
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