Part 5

The small pulpit of the rear choir, the medallions of which depict the life of St. Theresa, dates from 1678. It is a gift of the widow of M. Pommery (_photo below_).

Twenty-two archbishops of Rheims were buried under the choir pavement. Their tombstones were removed in 1747. The present flag-stones came from the old church of St. Nicaise.

The archbishop's throne, by Viollet-le-Duc, was destroyed by the fire of 1914, together with the 18th century stalls.

The railings (1826-1832) replaced, not very happily, an ancient stone rood-loft destroyed in 1761.

=The Interior of the Southern Transept=

(_See plan, p. 33, and the Exterior, p. 47_)

A gap was made in the vaulting by the bombardment of April 19, 1917.

The arrangement of the inner facade is similar to that of the northern transept, except that the three high bays with lancet windows, which are partially hidden in the northern transept, are here entirely visible.

The stained-glass of the rose-window, destroyed by a hurricane in 1580, was replaced in 1581 by the Rheims artist Nicolas Derode. It represents the Eternal Father surrounded by the twelve apostles.

In the Rosary Chapel is a Renaissance altar-screen (1541), attributed to the Rheims sculptor Pierre Jacques. The general scheme represents _The dead body of Christ on the knees of the Virgin_, and above, _Christ coming forth from the sepulchre_. It was a gift of Canon Paul Grandraoul, who is shown on his knees before Mary Magdalene.

The Roman mosaic work in the centre of the chapel was discovered in the courtyard of the archbishop's palace in 1849. Among the most remarkable scenes are: _Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene_, attributed to Titian; _Christ with the angels_, by Thaddeo Zuccaro; _The Nativity_, attributed to Tintoret; _Manna in the Desert_, attributed to Nicolas Poussin.

=The Cathedral Treasure=

This is kept in a sacristy built by Viollet-le-Duc, which is reached through a plain door in the southern facade of the transept.

The treasure, which is very rich in precious reliquaries, chalices, and other pieces of goldsmith's work, was saved from the fire of September 19, 1914, by the Cure of the Cathedral and one of his abbes. After being temporarily placed in the house of the Cardinal, it was evacuated in 1915, at the order of the Historical Monuments Department.

Among the best known of these art treasures are the Chalice of St. Remi and St. Ursula's Skiff.

The =Chalice of St. Remi=, with its gold filagree work, six rows of chasing, and precious stones set in a _collier_, is a remarkable work of art. It was in this chalice that, by special privilege, the kings of France communicated in wine at the conclusion of their consecration. Tradition has it that the gold of which it is made was that of the Soissons Vase, whereas in reality it is 12th century. Confiscated in 1793 and deposited in the _Bibliotheque Nationale_, it was restored to the Cathedral by Napoleon III.

=St. Ursula's Skiff= is a reliquary given by Henri III. It represents a ship carved out of cornelian, floating on a sea of enamel. The ship, whose mast bears the royal crown, is adorned with the escutcheons of France and Poland, and contains eleven small figures. That of St. Ursula is said to be the portrait of the Queen of France.

Amongst the other remarkable works of art in the Treasure are the following: the _reliquaries_ of Archbishop Samson, St. Sixtus (12th century), St. Peter and St. Paul (14th century), and the Holy Sepulchre (16th century); a _monstrance_ of gilt copper (13th century); a _liturgical comb_ of ivory, said to have belonged to St. Bernard (12th century); a rock-crystal _cross_, which formerly belonged to Cardinal de Lorraine; _orfrays_ embroidered with silver thread (13th century); the _credence_ and _oil vessels_ of Abbot de la Salle; a _fragment_ of a carved wood crozier (incorrectly said to be the crozier of St. Gibrien), two other fragments of which are in the Town Museum (12th century); the _vases_, _utensils_, and _sacred ornaments_ which were used at the consecration of Charles X.; the _reliquary_ of the Sacred Ampulla, designed by Lafitte for the consecration of Charles X. The original Sacred Ampulla was broken in 1793. The present one, which has only served for the consecration of Charles X., is a replica said to have been made with the few drops of balsam of the Clovis Ampulla, which pious hands saved from the broken fragments of the sacred vessel.

=FIRST ITINERARY FOR VISITING RHEIMS=

=Starting-point: Place du Parvis Notre-Dame=

1. The Archbishop's Palace (p. 63). 2. The Theatre (p. 68) 3. The House of Levesque de Pouilly (p. 68). 4. The Stores: Galeries Remoises (p. 73). 5. The Maison Fossier (p. 75). 6. The House of J. B. de la Salle (p. 75). 7. The House of the Enfant d'Or (p. 75). 8. The Statue of Louis XV. (p. 79). 9. The Musicians' House (p. 80). 10. The House of De Muire (p. 83). 11. The House of Le Vergeur (p. 85). 12. A 16th Century House (p. 86). 13. The General Post Office and Chamber of Commerce (p. 87). 14. The Cloister of the Franciscan Friars (p. 90). 15. The House of Thiret de Prain (p. 89). 16. The House of de la Pourcelette (p. 92).

=Place du Parvis=

The Place du Parvis (_photo below_) is in front of the main facade of the Cathedral. The shells made enormous craters there.

In the centre of the square stands an =equestrian statue of Joan-of-Arc=, by Paul Dubois, of which there is a replica in the Place St. Augustin in Paris. It was removed in May, 1918, by the Historical Monuments Department (_photo above_).

Looking towards the Cathedral, the tourist will see on the right the ruins of the _Hotel du Lion d'Or_ and of the _Hotel de la Maison Rouge_.

The latter was completely destroyed. Above the door was the inscription: "In the year 1429, at the consecration of Charles VII., in this hostelry--then called the 'Striped Ass'--the father and mother of Jeanne d'Arcq were lodged at the expense of the Municipality." In reality only the father of Joan-of-Arc lodged there.

It was at the Hotel du Lion d'Or (_photo opposite_) and at the Grand Hotel (No. 4 in the Rue Libergier, which opens out in front of the statue of Joan-of-Arc) that the Field-Marshal French stayed in August, 1914, and later General von Zuchow, commanding the Saxon troops which entered Rheims on September 4, 1914.

On the right of the Cathedral are the ruins of the Archbishop's Palace (_see plan, p. 33_). A general view of them is seen in the photograph on p. 48.

=The Archbishop's Palace=

Of the three buildings which surrounded every Cathedral in the Middle Ages--the bishop's palace, the cloister of the canons, and the house set apart for the sick and poor (Hotel-Dieu)--only the archbishop's palace existed at Rheims in 1914. It extended all along the south lateral facade of the Cathedral, on the site of the ancient abode of St. Nicaise, which had replaced a Roman palace. Of the ancient building erected by the successors of St. Nicaise down to the 13th century, there remained only the graceful two-storied chapel, doubtless contemporary with the chevet of the Cathedral. The round entrance tower, known as Eon's tower (from the name of the heretic who was imprisoned there in the 12th century), and the great bronze stag placed in the middle of the courtyard by Archbishop Samson in the 11th century, still existed in the 17th century, but about that time the one was demolished and the other melted down. This stag, into which on feast-days wine was poured, which flowed out again by the mouth, was a beautiful specimen of the art of the old metal-founders of Rheims.

The archbishop's palace and most of its rich collections were burnt in the fire of September 19, 1914. Of the palace proper there remains only the great chimney-piece of the Salle du Tau, on which the Latin motto, "Good faith preserved makes rich," is inscribed (_see p. 64_), the very opposite of the German "scrap of paper" theory.

=The Archeveche=: The buildings which lined the courtyard were of different periods. The wing abutting on the entrance-gate was 19th century, while the correct but heavy and dull southern facade was rebuilt in the 17th century by Archbishop Maurice Le Tellier, from the plans of Robert de Cotte.

=The Salle du Tau (or Kings' Hall)=

(_See plan, p. 33._)

At the bottom of the courtyard there used to be a large late 15th and early 16th century hall, access to which was gained by a horse-shoe stair with late 17th century wrought-iron hand-rail.

A small porch-like structure at the top of the stair was an unfortunate addition of 1825.

The hall was known as the =Salle du Tau=, in memory of the ancient palace which was shaped like the Greek letter _Tau_, or the Kings' Hall, on account of the portraits of the Kings consecrated at Rheims, received in 1825.

Built by the Cardinal Archbishop Guillaume Briconnet between 1497 and 1507, it comprised two stories.

The upper hall, in which the royal banquet was served at the consecrations, became the Stock Exchange at the beginning of the 19th century. It was disfigured by poor paintings and false Gothic ornamentation at the time of the consecration of Charles X.

The walls were hung with four admirable tapestries by Pepersack and several others given by Robert de Lenoncourt.

The vast chimney-piece with the Briconnet and Church of Rheims Arms is all that the fire of 1914 spared of the ancient decoration. It is visible in the photographs on page 64, at the bottom of the hall.

The lower hall, with its Gothic arching, was as large as the upper one. The capitals of the prismatic pillars and the key-stones of the arches were adorned with escutcheons, fleur-de-lys, flowers and crockets.

=The Archi-episcopal Chapel=

(_See plan, p. 33._)

This was without doubt the work of Jean d'Orbais, the first architect of the Cathedral. It resembled the latter in many respects.

With its seven-sided apse, four-bay nave and lancet-shaped windows without rubber-work, it was remarkably slender and graceful.

Its finest ornament was the 13th century bas-relief, _The Adoration of the Magi_, in the tympanum of the entrance door.

The white marble inner portico of the door dated from the Restoration. The other, formed of in-laid wood panels, was adorned with five 16th or early 17th century painted figures.

The lower chapel, partly subterranean, was fitted up as a lapidary museum in 1865 and 1896.

=The Royal Apartments=

From the Kings' Hall, access was obtained to five royal saloons with windows looking on the gardens and adorned with portraits of archbishops.

It was in the archbishop's palace that the Kings stayed at the time of their consecration or when passing through Rheims. Henry IV. lived there during his two sojourns at Rheims. He washed the feet of the poor on Holy Thursday in the great hall and listened to the sermon of Father Cotton. Louis XIII. and Richelieu stayed there in 1641, Louis XIV. in 1680, Peter the Great in 1717, Louis XV. in 1722 and 1744, the Queen in 1765, Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette in 1774, and Charles X. in 1825. From year VI. (Revolution Calendar) to 1824 it was occupied by the tribunals. The archbishops formerly held many Councils and Synods there, but lived there only rarely. In the Middle Ages they preferred living in their fortified castle of Porte Mars (_see p._ 6). In the 17th and 18th centuries they lived mostly outside Rheims.

_After visiting the ruins of the Archbishop's Palace return to the Place du Parvis. Take the Rue Libergier, opposite the Cathedral, turning into the first street on the right (Rue Chanzy). The Museum is soon reached (see Itinerary, p. 61)._

=The Museum=, formerly =The Grand Seminaire=

This fine 18th century building was erected by Nicolas Bonhomme in 1743-1752. The carved entrance-door and terraced central pavilion, bordered with a fine balustrade (damaged by shell splinters), are the remains of the ancient Abbey of St. Denis, the church of which was destroyed at the time of the Revolution. The right wing was rebuilt in the 19th century, by order of Cardinal Thomas Gousset. The ground-floor of the left wing is old, but the other floors are modern. These buildings were comparatively little damaged by the bombardments.

Successively occupied since 1790 by the District Council, a free secondary school, and by the Russians in 1814-1815, the buildings were handed over to the Grand Seminaire in 1822. Since the separation of the Church and State in 1905, they have been fitted up as a Museum.

The Museum was struck at the beginning of the bombardment on September 4, 1914, several pictures in the Modern Gallery being destroyed. Later, it was again hit by shells, but the greater part of the collections had already been removed to a place of safety.

_Continue along the Rue Chanzy, which skirts the_ =Theatre= (1873), of which only the walls remain. _Take the Rue de Vesle (first street on the left. See Itinerary, p. 61)._

Among the ruins of this street, in the yard of No. 18 on the left, is a building of which only the ground-floor and front with large windows and spacious dormers remain.

It was there that Napoleon I. slept after his return to Rheims. His room had been preserved exactly as it was in 1814 (_see p. 8_).

At No. 27 are vestiges of the old =Hotel Levesque de Pouilly=. Inside the court there was a 16th century house, the residence of a family which furnished Rheims with some remarkable administrators, chief among whom was _Levesque de Pouilly_, "lieutenant of the inhabitants." Among the celebrated guests received by him were Voltaire and Madame du Chatelet (1749). In a letter to him, Lord Bolingbroke wrote: "_I know but three men who are worthy of governing the nation: You, Pope and myself._"

_On the right, between Nos. 44 and 46, is the Rue St. Jacques._

_Follow the Rue de Vesle to the end, where the_ =Paris Gate= _stands, about 1 km. from the entrance to the Rue St. Jacques._

This Gate replaced the Vesle Gate which formerly abutted on the river. In consequence of the growth of the city it was built in the _faubourg_ about 1845. Its beautiful wrought-iron work (_photo opposite_), by the local master-locksmiths Lecoq and Revel, was erected by the City in 1774, at the time of the consecration of Louis XVI.

_From the Paris Gate, return by the Rue de Vesle to the Rue St. Jacques, on the right of which stands the_ Church of St. Jacques.

The =Church of St. Jacques=, whose fine tower contributed to the charm of the general appearance of the city, was destroyed by the bombardments of 1918. Begun in the 12th century, it was finished in the 16th. Before the war, it was the only parish church in Rheims which had been preserved intact.

_The Rue St. Jacques leads to the long_ Place Drouet d'Erlon, which was much damaged by the bombardments of 1918 (_photo opposite_).

Formerly known as _Place de la Couture_, this square, like the old streets with picturesque names: _Rue des Telliers_, _Rue du Clou-dans-le-Fer_, _Rue de la Belle Image_, _Rue de la Grosse-Ecritoire_, _Rue du Cadran St. Pierre_, formed part of the _Quartier des Loges_, built in the 12th century by Cardinal Guillaume-aux-blanches-mains for the wood and iron workers. The house-fronts above the first storey rested mostly on wooden pillars, leaving recesses or covered galleries on the ground floor.

In the centre of the square stood a statue of Marshal Drouet d'Erlon, afterwards removed to the crossing of the Boulevards Gerbert and Victor Hugo, and replaced by a =monumental fountain=, the gift of M. Sube.

_Follow the Place Drouet d'Erlon to the Boulevard de la Republique, which skirts_ =The Promenades=.

The Promenades, greatly damaged by the war, have sometimes been wrongly attributed to Le Notre. Their designer was a Rheims gardener, Jean le Roux. Commenced in 1731, they were finished and extended in 1787. They were formerly reached by the Gates of Mars and Vesles, but preferably by the Promenade Gate specially opened in the ramparts in 1740 and inaugurated by Louis XV. in 1744, on his return from Flanders. The Promenades were first called _Cours Le Pelletier_ (the name of the _Intendant of Champagne_, who approved the plans), then _Cours Royal_, after the passage of Louis XV. They were encroached upon by the railway station, built in 1860.

In the centre of the Promenades, opposite the station, in the _Square Colbert_, laid out by the landscape gardener Vare in 1860, is a statue of Colbert.

_Take the Rue Thiers, which begins at the Square Colbert and leads to the_ =Hotel-de-Ville=.

=The Hotel-de-Ville=

This building, which was destroyed by shell-fire on May 13, 1917, was similar in many respects to the old Hotel-de-Ville in Paris, burnt in 1871.

Commenced in 1627, from plans by the Rheims architect, Jean Bonhomme, it was completed in stages, at long intervals. Only the central _pavilion_ and the left-hand portion were 17th century.

The building was a beautiful specimen of the architecture of the Louis XIII. period. Seventy-eight columns, Doric on the ground-floor and Corinthian on the first storey, framed the windows of the facade, whose bases on the first floor carried trophies in bas-relief and a graceful frieze. The niches in the central portico were empty, but the pediment on twisted columns enclosed an equestrian statue of Louis XIII.

In the interior, in the great vestibule, a staircase with a remarkable wrought-iron balustrade led to the City Library, which was destroyed by the fire of 1917 (_photo, p. 73_).

On the right, the room where the Municipal Council meetings were held, contained rich panelling alternated with paintings by Lamatte, commemorating episodes in the history of Rheims. On the left, the mayor's office contained magnificent Louis XVI. woodwork.

On the other side of the courtyard, in the centre of which is a statue of "La Vigne," by St. Marceaux, was the great marriage-hall, containing a Gallo-Roman mosaic, framed with rosettes and an interlaced border, representing a gladiatorial fight.

A number of the pictures and works of art in the Hotel-de-Ville were saved by the firemen and soldiers. The mosaic in the marriage-hall was protected by sand-bags and is intact.

_In the Place de l'Hotel-de-Ville, between the Rue Thiers and the Banque de France, are two small streets: the Rue Salin and the Rue de Pouilly._

At No. 5 of the Rue Salin, the old 17th century _Hotel Coquebert_, which was destroyed by the shells, used to be the headquarters of the _Society of Friends of Old Rheims_. Several of the illustrations in this Guide are taken from the collections of this Society.

In the Rue de Pouilly, close to the Hotel-de-Ville, are the =ruins= of the _Galeries Remoises_ stores. These shops were partly housed in a Gothic building, of which only a few chimney-stacks remain (_see chimney in photo below_).

_Opposite the Hotel-de-Ville take the Rue Colbert to the Place des Marches._

=The Place des Marches=

Built on the site of the ancient _forum_, the Market Square, before the war, still contained several remarkable 15th century wooden houses. Unfortunately, they were destroyed by the terrible bombardment of May 8-15, 1918, together with the Square.

_After turning to the right, on leaving the Rue Colbert, and quite close to the Square, at No. 4 in the Rue de l'Arbalete_, is the house, dating from the middle of the 16th century, where =J. B. de la Salle= was born.

Although this house suffered from the bombardments of 1918, its front is practically intact. It is the finest Renaissance front in Rheims, after that of =Le Vergeur's House= (_see p. 85_).

The carriage entrance is flanked with two life-size caryatids, popularly called _Adam and Eve_, on account of their nudity. Along the first storey runs a broad frieze ornamentated with trophies of arms and a shield of unknown significance. Between two windows of this storey a niche, resting on a console, is crowned with a canopy. The shops on the ground-floor somewhat spoilt the general look of the building. The interior of the house was less interesting than the front.

In the courtyard is a strikingly graceful three-storey turret (_photo above_), one side of which has collapsed.

Among the wooden houses destroyed by the bombardments of 1918 in the Place des Marches, the following must be mentioned: the =Maison Fossier= (_see p. 76_), which stood in the Square at the right-hand corner of the Rue de l'Arbalete, and especially the =Maison de l'Enfant d'Or= (sometimes wrongly called the House of Jacques Callou), which stood near the Rue des Elus. The latter house took its name from an old sign representing the gilt figure of a sleeping child. Hence, punningly, the name _Golden_ or _Sleeping_ Child.

In spite of alterations, this house (_photo, p. 77_), with its pent-house roof, two overhanging storeys, windows crowned with finials, and sculptural decoration (_see carved console, p. 77_), was a well-preserved specimen of 15th century architecture.

_From the Place des Marches, follow the Rue Colbert to the_ =Place Royale=.