Current Time in Reims, France

Reims is a major city in the Marne department of the Grand Est region of northeastern France, situated in the heart of the Champagne wine country approximately 130 kilometers east of Paris. The city is celebrated worldwide for two reasons: its extraordinary Gothic cathedral, where the kings of France were crowned for nearly a thousand years, and the Champagne wine industry, whose greatest houses are headquartered here and whose vast chalky cellars beneath the city preserve millions of bottles of the world's most famous sparkling wine. Both heritages have earned UNESCO World Heritage recognition.

With a population of approximately 183,000, Reims is the second-largest city in the Grand Est region after Strasbourg and a significant economic and cultural center. The city was nearly destroyed during World War I, when it lay within range of German artillery for much of the war, suffering damage that left the cathedral's interior gutted and much of the city in ruins. The remarkable rebuilding of Reims in the 1920s and 1930s gave the city much of its current architectural character, with a distinctive Art Deco style visible in many public buildings.

The history of Reims as France's coronation city stretches back to the baptism of Clovis, the king of the Franks, at Reims by Saint Remigius around 496 AD. This foundational act of Christian baptism established the city's sacred connection with French kingship, and from the coronation of Louis VIII in 1223 to that of Charles X in 1825, French kings were anointed and crowned at Reims. The tradition was so powerful that Joan of Arc, in her determination to restore the legitimate French monarchy, led Charles VII on an extraordinary military campaign to enable him to be crowned at Reims in 1429 during the Hundred Years' War.

The Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Reims is one of the supreme achievements of French Gothic architecture, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991. Built from 1211 onward on the site of earlier cathedrals destroyed by fire, its west facade is one of the most richly decorated in Gothic architecture, featuring over 2,300 sculpted figures in a comprehensive program depicting biblical narratives, saints, angels, and royal history. The celebrated Gallery of Kings above the central portal contains over 56 statues of the kings of Judah and France, while the Smiling Angel of the Annunciation tympanum is the most beloved individual figure in the cathedral's sculptural program. The cathedral's stained glass windows, including a magnificent modern rose window designed by Marc Chagall in 1974, illuminate the interior with colored light.

The Champagne industry's great houses — Taittinger, Veuve Clicquot, Pommery, Mumm, and many others — are headquartered in Reims, and most offer tours of their extraordinary chalk caves, some of which follow the galleries of Roman quarries cut two thousand years ago. These candlelit underground labyrinths, some extending for kilometers, provide a dramatic and atmospheric introduction to the production of Champagne and are among the most memorable wine tourism experiences in the world.

The Palais du Tau, the former Archbishop's Palace adjacent to the cathedral and now a museum, houses the original sculptural masterpieces removed from the cathedral for protection and the extraordinary coronation treasures including Charlemagne's talismanic brooch. The Villa Demoiselle and Villa Bissinger in the residential neighborhoods preserve exceptional Art Nouveau and Art Deco interiors.

Reims is connected to Paris Est by TGV in approximately 45 minutes, making it one of the most accessible day trips from the French capital. The combination of its coronation cathedral, Champagne heritage, Art Deco city fabric, and extraordinary WWI history make Reims one of the most historically layered and rewarding cities in France.