Part 7

_Take the Rue de Contrai, on the left, which leads to the_ Rue de l'Universite. Inserted in the facade of the house at No. 65 (_on the right_), and in the wall of the Lycee (_on the left_), are two stone =bas-reliefs= ornamented with trophies of arms and Roman insignia, the sole remaining vestiges of the _Porte Basee_ (_from Basilea_) which formerly stood there on the Caesarean way, at the southern extremity of the Gallo-Roman town. (_See photo above of the right-hand bas-relief._)

_Follow the Rue de l'Universite and skirt the_ =Lycee de Garcons=, of which only the chapel and one of the buildings are left. The rest was burnt or destroyed by shell-fire.

The Lycee replaced the old _College des Bons Enfants_, founded in the Middle Ages, and rebuilt in the 16th century by the Cardinal de Lorraine, founder of the University of Rheims.

Of the old _College_, only the central part remained, in the second court built by Archbishop Charles Maurice Le Tellier in 1686 and the following years.

The gate of the _Cour des Etudes_ dates from 1688.

The ancient door of the College--the tympana of whose arcading contain two laughing and crying heads--was transferred to the entrance of the _Petit Lycee_, at No. 5 of the street on the right of the Lycee (Rue Vauthier-le-Noir) (_photo above_).

_Shortly after the Lycee, turn to the right into the Place Godinot, then take the Rue St. Pierre-les-Dames on the right._ At No. 8 are the ruins of the =Abbey of St. Pierre-les-Dames=.

Of this celebrated Abbey, where several royal persons stayed: _Mary Stuart_ twice, in her childhood and after she was widowed; _Henry IV._, on a visit to his cousin, the Abbess Renee II.; _Anne of Austria_, of whom the _Congregation_ library contains a portrait; there remains hardly anything but two 16th century _pavillons_ belonging to the period when Renee de Lorraine, sister of the Queen of Scotland and aunt of Mary Stuart, was abbess of the convent. Built of stone and brick with marble incrustations, and adorned with beautiful carvings, these _pavillons_ were pure Renaissance in style. The head of an angel with unfolded wings and the head of a grinning demon surmounted the two windows of one of the ground-floors. On the first floor of the same _pavillon_ the window, framed with delicate ornaments, opened above a cornice, the principal sculptural subject of which was a nude woman, helmeted, suckling two children.

_The Rue St. Pierre-les-Dames leads to the Rue des Murs, into which turn to the right, then to the left into the Rue du Barbatre. Follow the latter to the end._ This street suffered greatly from the early bombardments, and was almost entirely destroyed in the summer of 1918.

_At Nos. 137 and 139, at the corner of the Rue Montlaurent_, are the ruins of the =Hotel Feret de Montlaurent=.

=Hotel Feret de Montlaurent.=

This large building, occupied by the _Cercle Catholique_, was commenced about 1540 by Hubert Feret, a _Lieutenant_ of the people, and the most celebrated member of a family which played an important part at Rheims in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries. The outside facade has been greatly altered. At No. 137 it was entirely rebuilt under Louis XVI. At No. 139 the ground-floor openings have been modified.

As in many of the mansions of the 16th century, most of the decoration is on the inner facades. Inside the courtyard, on the ground-floor of the wing abutting on the Rue Montlaurent, there is a six-arched gallery which was damaged but not destroyed (_photo,_ p. 99). Between the arch-centres and at the ends of the gallery are seven niches, three feet high, enclosing stone statues of the sun and the six planets known in the 16th century.

Taken in their order they are: =Saturn=, with a scythe in his hand and serpent round his arm, devouring a child, and the zodiacal signs Aquarius and Capricornus at his feet; =Jupiter=, holding a lighted torch, with Sagittarius at his feet; =Mars=, armed from head to foot, surmounting Cancer and Aries; the =Sun=, personified by Phoebus with flowing mantle, a lion at his side; =Venus=, clothed only in her hair, surmounting Taurus and Baloena; =Mercury=, with wings on his head and heels, the caduceus in his hand, Virgo and Gemini at his feet; the =Moon=, represented by Diana bearing a crescent; below her Scorpio.

The escutcheons on the wall at the back of this facade bear the initials of Regnault Feret, who completed the mansion. In the second court there are still vestiges of the chapel of this family.

_At No. 142 of the same street_, the entrance to the =Cour Maupinot= (one of the numerous _cours_ which have survived in Rheims) is framed in pilasters, the carved entablature of which supports a triangular pediment (_photo below_).

_The Rue Barbatre is continued by the Rue des Salines, which leads to the Place St. Nicaise._

The Place St. Nicaise was destroyed by the bombardments of April-August, 1918. It took its name from the celebrated Bishop of Rheims, who, with his sister St. Eutropia, was put to death by the Vandals in 407.

The Church of St. Nicaise, rebuilt in the 13th century by Libergier and Robert de Coucy, was destroyed at the time of the Revolution. Amongst other curiosities it contained a loose pillar, which Peter the Great had pointed out to him at the time of his journey through Rheims.

At the corner of the Place St. Nicaise, between the Boulevard Victor-Hugo and the Rue St. Nicaise, is the entrance to the =Champion Cellars=, in which the _Dubail_ school was installed during the war (_see p. 24_).

_Take the Rue St. Nicaise to the Boulevard Henry Vasnier (photo below), turn into the latter, on the right, and follow same as far as the_ =Rond-Point St. Nicaise=.

All this part of the town, which was quite close to the German lines, was constantly under the fire of their guns. It was violently bombarded during the German offensives of May, June and July, 1918.

_Near the Rond-Point de St. Nicaise are the_ =Pommery Cellars=, which gave shelter to many citizens and school-classes during the war (_see p. 24_).

=The Pommery Cellars=

These cellars are among the finest in Rheims, and form, with their eleven miles of streets, squares and boulevards lighted by electricity, rail-tracks, waggons, lifts, electric pumps and siphons, quite an underground city. A visit to them will give the tourist an idea of the importance and complexity of the Champagne wine industry in Rheims.

_The Boulevard Diancourt, which skirts the Square St. Nicaise, begins at the_ Rond-Point St. Nicaise.

This square was much cut up by the bombardments, and by the trenches and defensive works made there during the war (_photo above_).

The square contains two eminences, from the top of which there is a fine panoramic view of Rheims.

The photograph on page 27 was taken from the eminence nearest the Rond-Point St. Nicaise.

The other eminence is crowned by a limestone tower--all that remains of the ancient city ramparts.

_Follow the Boulevard Diancourt to the Place Dieu-Lumiere._

The name _Dieu-Lumiere_, borne by the old gate through which Joan-of-Arc and the Dauphin entered Rheims, was not derived, as supposed at the Renaissance, from the Sun-God Apollo, but from the old Gate _Dieu-li-Mire_ (God the Physician), so called in the Middle Ages on account of the proximity of a Cistercian hospital.

_Cross the square and take the Rue Dieu-Lumiere on the right to the_ Place St.-Timothee. The wood-panelled houses, whose _loges_ faced the Place St.-Timothee, were destroyed by the bombardments of April-September, 1918, except the one at the corner of the Rue St. Julien. This house, though severely damaged, has retained its butcher's stall with 17th century wooden balustrading.

_Take the Rue St. Julien on the left to the Place St.-Remi, in which stands the_ =Church of St. Remi=.

=The Church of St. Remi=

The Church of St. Remi is the oldest church in Rheims, and one of the oldest in all France. Although it is not certain that it replaced a Roman basilica, said to have stood on the site of the present transept, there is no doubt that Gallo-Roman building materials, taken from neighbouring edifices, were used in its construction or restoration.

To-day, the church covers a ground-space of about an acre and a quarter. In shape a Latin cross, it measures inside about 450 feet in length, 98 feet in breadth and 124 feet in height under the vaulting. Only the southern facade shows to advantage, but in spite of its varied styles, which mark the different stages of its growth, the church realises to the full the purpose of its founders. Its architecture and decoration, especially in the interior, make it, as was intended, a grand and dignified depository for sacred remains.

The Church of St. Remi stands on the site of a former cemetery, in the middle of which was the Chapel of St. Christopher, where St. Remi was buried. The chapel soon became popular and grew rapidly, especially between the 6th and 9th centuries, when it became a great fortified church. The present church, which replaced it, is not only one of the finest Romanesque churches in the north of France, but also forms a curious epitome of the history of architecture for several centuries. Begun in 1039 under Abbot Thierry, it was still far from finished when consecrated in 1049 by Pope Leo IX. Building was continued in 1170 by Abbot Pierre de Celle, the future Bishop of Chartres, whose restorations were the first application of the Gothic style to a great building in Rheims; in the 13th and 14th centuries, under Abbot Jean Canart, and in the 15th century, under Abbot Robert de Lenoncourt. Partially transformed at the end of the 16th century, it has been restored and partly rebuilt at intervals since 1839.

=The Church of St. Remi during the War=

The Church of St. Remi escaped severe damage until the middle of 1918. The bombardment of September 4, 1914, injured one of the tapestries depicting the life of St. Remi, and destroyed a fine painting: _The Entry of Clovis into Rheims_. The bombardment of November 16, 1914, wrecked the apsidal chapel of the Virgin, bringing down the vaulting, destroying the key-stone and pointed arches, crushing the altar beneath a heap of ruins, smashing the magnificent windows of the apsidal gallery, and destroying the priceless 12th century stained-glass depicting _Christ crucified between the Virgin and St. John_. The Church narrowly escaped destruction when the Hotel-Dieu Hospital was burnt down in 1916. From April, 1918, it was marked down by the German batteries. The roof was entirely burnt, and the dummy vaulting of the nave collapsed. Of the fine 15th century timber-work nothing remains, but parts of the lofty 13th century vaulting over the choir and transept withstood the bombardment. The treasure, tapestries, sacristy doors, storied tile-flooring of the chapel of St. Eloi, the old stained-glass of the lofty windows, and the apsidal windows round the gallery of the first storey, were saved by the Historical Monuments Department.

The tomb of St. Remi is intact. The relics of the saint which, at the request of the Archbishop of Rheims had not been disturbed, were removed by the vicar of the parish at the time of the final evacuation of the town. The reliquary was taken away by officers at a later date, while the church was burning.

=The Apse of St. Remi Church=

The Apse was rebuilt under Pierre de Celle in 1170, in early Gothic. Five three-sided radiating chapels arranged in three stages, one behind the other, have flowing and elegant lines, broken by the enormous projections of the buttresses which were added at a later period.

This apse is one of the earliest religious edifices in France, in which flying buttresses were employed.

The latter, very simple in design, rest on outside fluted columns detached from the wall of the apse. This is one of the last examples of fluting, as applied to columns, the process disappearing generally with the introduction of pointed architecture, only to reappear at the Renaissance.

The persistence of this fluting is doubtless explained by the influence of the many specimens of Roman architecture which Rheims had preserved.

=The Doorway of the Southern Transept=

Although the transept dates from the 11th century, its southern facade was built in 1480 by Robert de Lenoncourt.

The doorway, which bears the Lenoncourt arms, comprises only one door, divided by a pillar with statues of St. Remi and the Virgin.

The deep vaulting of the door is ornamented with vine-foliage. At the base, in the supporting walls, are statues of St. Sixtus and St. Sinicius (the first missionaries to Rheims) bare-footed, clothed in long embroidered mantles and holding books. In the vaulting above the head-covering of the missionaries are eight groups of statuettes representing episodes in the Life and Passion of Jesus.

Tourists who follow the Itinerary on page 95, come out by the Rue St. Julien, in front of the doorway of the south transept. The latter is between the ruined apse (_on the right_) and the south lateral facade (_on the left_).

The 15th century leaves of the door are composed of wood panels in blind arcading, ornamented with flowering clover.

On the buttresses which frame the doorway are five statues of saints, including St. Remi, St. Benedict, and St. Christopher carrying a kneeling Jesus on his shoulder.

The tympanum of the gable above the great flamboyant window is arranged on a Gothic pediment. Its decoration represents the _Assumption of the Virgin and her crowning in Heaven_.

On the top of the pediment, and crowning the whole, is St. Michael trampling Satan underfoot.

The whole of the doorway is a beautiful example of Flamboyant Gothic. Its rich carvings and delicate ornamentation are in striking contrast with the severity of the rest of the building.

At the intersection of the transept, there was formerly a wooden spire, built in 1394, which was pulled down as unsafe in 1825, by order of those who had charge of the arrangements connected with the consecration of Charles X.

On the right-hand side of the transept, and also in the north transept, are small semi-circular chapels.

=South Lateral Facade=

This front has the bare, massive appearance of the 11th century buildings. The remarkable Roman arches, massive buttresses and blind doorway, framed by two primitive capitals with a wreath-shaped astragal, are apparently vestiges of constructions of an earlier date than those of Abbot Thierry.

The semi-cylindrical abutments are among the oldest of mediaeval buttresses. They are crowned with cones or capitals, the greater part of which are devoid of decoration.

=The West Front of St. Remi Church=

Between its two towers, this gabled facade, the recesses and blind arcading of which form almost its sole decoration, is in strong contrast with the principal facade of the Cathedral. At once elegant and severe, like most of the monastic buildings of the 12th century, it lacks unity. All that part situated above the five windows of the first storey, including the rose-window, has been rebuilt in modern times. The very simple rose-window, between two lines of superimposed arcading, is protected, in the Champagne style, by a relieving-arch. The northern tower (_on the left_) was almost entirely rebuilt in the 19th century, on the lines of the old one. The simpler southern tower (_on the right_), with its arched windows and loopholes, is Roman of the 11th or 12th century. The pointed part of the facade is late 12th century, and dates from the time of the restorations by Pierre de Celle.

Three doors open on the nave. The central one is flanked by two columns with statues of St. Peter and St. Remi. The marble and granite columns came, no doubt, from some neighbouring Gallo-Roman building. These statues, with arms pressed close to their sides in the ancient stiff manner, are probably from the original basilicas.

=The Inner Side of the Western Doorway=

Here, the architecture is peculiar. Pierced columns form a gallery connecting the upper courses. The galleries of the first storey are supported by two great columnar shafts, each formed of two portions joined by a stone ring and surmounted by bell-shaped marble capitals. The columns and capitals are Gallo-Roman.

=The Nave=

Alterations were made at different times to the nave which, in the 11th century, had a timber-work roof. Pierre de Celle lengthened it by two bays, the pointed arches of which contrast with the circular ones of the lower bays, and also increased its height. _Note the ogives above the round arches._ The visible timber-work was replaced with vaulting on diagonal ribs sustained by clusters of small Gothic columns backing up against the Roman piers, the latter being still visible. These heavy piers (composed of fourteen small columns) which surround the central nave, and whose capitals (_photo, p. 108_), with Barbaric wreathed astragals and foliage, recall the Carolingian period, contrast strikingly with the lightness of the apse. They are undoubtedly 11th century. All the stone vaulting of the nave, as far as the transept, was replaced after 1839 with wood and plaster, which collapsed under the bombardments of 1918, when the roof was burnt.

The pulpit, with its Benedictine monogram, is late 17th century. It is ornamented with three bas-reliefs: _St. Remi receiving the Sacred Ampulla_, _St. Benedict imploring the Holy Spirit_, and _St. Benedict giving the Injunction to his monks_. As far as the pulpit, on both sides of the nave, the granite columns resting on the piers date from the Gallo-Roman period.

The side-aisles of the nave are surmounted with a triforium (_photo above_) with semi-circular vaulting at right-angles to the nave. The south aisle is almost entirely in ruins (_photo, p. 107_).

=The Tapestries=

The priceless tapestries which, before the war, decorated the tribunals of the side-aisles, were saved.

Those given by Robert de Lenoncourt and restored by _Les Gobelins_, are rich in composition and decorative effect. In an architectural frame of the Renaissance period, they represent the following legendary scenes from the life of St. Remi, the costumes belonging to the period of Francois I.:--

1. The blind hermit Montanus visits the new-born Remi, who, touching him with his fingers wet with milk, restores his sight.

2. The hermit St. Remi, called by the people to the bishopric, receives the mitre.

3. Four miracles are performed by the saint: he extinguishes a fire lighted by demons in the city; he restores life to a girl; he is served at table by angels; when wine ran short at the table of his cousin Celsa, he blessed an empty cask, which was immediately filled.

4. The Battle of Tolbiac; Clovis instructed and baptized by Remi; the miraculous dove and an angel bring from heaven the Sacred Ampulla and the fleur-de-lys scutcheon.

5. Remi gives Clovis a cask of wine, telling him that he will always be victorious so long as the cask remains full; a miller who refused to give his mill to the Church, sees his wheel turn the wrong way and his mill fall down; St. Genebaud, Bishop of Soissons, punished by Remi for his sins, is afterwards delivered from his fetters by the saint.

6. The miracle of Hydrissen: Remi raises a man from the dead, who confirms his wish to leave a portion of his wealth to the Church, to the confusion of his son-in-law who contested the will.

7. Remi contemplating a heap of corn which he had collected to provide against famine, and which some drunkards had burnt. At a Council, Remi paralyses the tongue of a heretic priest, and then restores speech to him after repentance.

8. Remi, singing Matins in the chapel of the Virgin, is assisted by St. Peter and St. Paul and blessed by Mary. Remi, blind, dictates his will in the presence of St. Genebaud and St. Medard. Remi recovers his sight, celebrates mass and gives the Communion to his clergy. Remi dies and four angels carry away his soul.

9. Remi's funeral; the procession goes towards the church of St. Timothy, where it is proposed to bury the saint, but in front of St. Christopher's, on the site of the present basilica, the saint, by making it impossible to lift his coffin, manifests his desire to be interred in this chapel. The saint's winding-sheet, carried in procession, dispels the plague that had been ravaging the city.

10. Angels transfer the relics of the saint to his mausoleum. A soldier who had tried to break in the door of the church, cannot withdraw his foot. Remi punishes the Bishop of Mayence, guilty of theft. Remi reveals himself with the Virgin and St. John. The Archbishop of Rheims, Robert de Lenoncourt, kneeling, presents the ten pieces of tapestry to the saint.

The latter tapestry was riddled with splinters (_photo, p. 110_) during the bombardment of September 4, 1914.

=The Treasure=

This was kept in the sacristy, the 15th century carved wood doors of which have Flamboyant style frames.

Formerly the richest of all the church treasures of France, it was impoverished in the course of the centuries, through wars and revolutions.

The =enamels= by Landin of Limoges (1633), dedicated to the lives of St. Timothy and St. Remi, a 12th century abbot's =crozier=, =reliquaries= and =sacerdotal ornaments= are noteworthy.

The treasure was removed, together with the doors of the sacristy, by the Historical Monuments Department.

=The North Transept=

Three small white marble Gallo-Roman or Carolingian capitals crown the colonnettes of the triforium.

Formerly, the church contained several tombs. Let into the wall of the north transept is a Latin epitaph, praising the virtues of a woman named Guiberge, who seems to have combined in her person the perfections of six women, _i.e._ the beauty of Rachel, the fidelity of Rebecca, the modesty of Susanna, the piety of Tabitha, the warm affections of Ruth, and the high morals of Anna.

=The South Transept=

The first chapel on the right of the apse, against the transept, is the chapel of St. Eloi.

In 1846, forty-eight storied flag-stones, taken from the flooring of the sanctuary of the church of St. Nicaise and collected by the architect Brunette, were placed there.