June 1-2 Reims Cathedral

The Cathedral of Notre Dame in Reims is widely described as one of the greatest Gothic cathedrals, but we don’t have the photos to prove it. Although we took many photos, and kept going back at different times of day to look at its magnificence, we just never captured it.

The interior is filled with light from clear windows, translucent modern stained glass, medieval windows that didn’t photograph well, a medieval-style modern window on the subject of the making of champagne,and several windows by Marc Chagall. The overall airiness came as a surprise to Jimmy, who was used to the darkness of so many old churches.

We were treated to a choral rehearsal when we first entered. To me, music is a necessary element of experiencing these great and geometric architectural spaces. But then, I think I got this idea in part from my years studying with musical proportions with Prof. Siegmund Levarie, and reading Susanne Langer's Philosophy in a New Key, relating music and architecture.

(This trip would have pleased Prof. Levarie, who opened a bottle of Chateau-Neuf-de-Pape in music history class when we studied the Trecento and the Papal Schism. You could do that in 1968. A moment to honor one of my favorite music professors, who lived so well, and died a few months ago.)

Every bit of the exterior is decorated with sculpture (such as the detail from the David and Goliath scene on the front), some of which we could only see with telephoto lens or binoculars.

This makes one wonder, or be filled with wonder - what were they thinking? Who was the art for? None of the sculptures, however obscurely placed, is not worth looking at.

The cathedral is sometimes called Cathedral of Coronations, because since the early Middle Ages, this is where the French kings came to be coronated (the current building dates from the early 13th century, on the site of an earlier structure, also used for coronations until it was destroyed by fire). Attached to the cathedral is the Palais Tau (for the t-shape) or Bishop’s Palace, now a museum. The museum houses some of the original facade sculptures, which are being replaced by reproductions, including the disturbing blindfolded woman representing “Synagogue,” like the one on Notre-Dame de Paris and other French cathedrals, and an intriguing storeroom of spare parts.

Coronation objects and paintings are displayed, including this robe of obvious great weight.

When we visited, the museum also had a very fine exhibit of the work of someone named Zwy Milshtein, a painter born in Kishinev (Russia, now Moldova, and infamous in Jewish history for its 1903 pogrom) who eventually settled in Paris, whose images are Jewish and Christian and from everyday life. (Click on the crucifixion for a larger version, to read the Hebrew. I'm told it says "Jesu the Nazarite, King of the Jews.")

The cathedral of Reims was firebombed by the Germans during World War I. This is a photo of the reconstruction process.













(One of the other principal churches in Reims, St Remi, was also reconstructed after the firebombing.)







In fact, something like 75% of the buildings of Reims were destroyed or damaged during World War I. Reims, which isn’t far from Verdun, was a battleground for much of that war.

Note that we didn’t know anything about this before we went. Not the coronations, not the firebombings, and not that Reims is the city where Eisenhower was headquartered and the Germans forces capitulated on May 7, 1945.

At home we have Jean Bony's 1961 book French Cathedrals, which had belonged to Jimmy's parents; in the descriptions of the full-page plates, his mother had written in the margin what years they had visited each of the main cathedrals. They visited Reims in 1961.
The next post has some of the other sights of Reims and Champagne...
More of our Reims photos can be viewed in our Picasa photo album.

Other entries: intro to our trip
walking around Reims
Reims to Nancy