Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: hornblower

Already the Romans loved this place. They named the place it "bellus locus", what has the same meaning as "Beau Lieu". The parish church was erected within the 12th century, but got altered and enlarged within the 19th century. The nave even still has some of the Romanesque capitals. Here is one of them. Two hornblowers reminding me, that I was on my way back to Monastier sur Gazeille (30kms south), where the "Festival de Cuivres" was going on this week.

"Notre-Dame de Reims" replaced an older church, burnt down in 1211. That church had been built on the site of the basilica where Clovis was baptized by Saint Remi, bishop of Reims, in 496. The erection of the the large Gotihc cathedral, the place,where the kings of France were crowned, started before 1220. In 1233 a dispute between the cathedral´s chapter and the population regarding taxation and jurisdication ended in a revolt. After several clerics were killed during the uproar, the chapter fled the town and work on the new cathedral was suspended for three years. By 1241 the choir was already used, the nave got roofed in 1299. Work on the western facade was slow. It was completed within the 14th century, a hundred years after the work started. During the Hundred Years' War the English held Reims after a long siege, but it got reconquered by Jeanne d'Arc´s army in 1429, so that Charles VII of France (aka "le Bien-Servi") was crowned here on 17 July 1429. In the first weeks of WWI German shellfire burned, damaged and destroyed important parts of the cathedral. Restoration work began in 1919 - and is been steadily going on since. I learned, that there is a total of 2303 carved statues of different sizes in- and outside of "Notre-Dame de Reims". As the tympanum of the northern side portal themes the Last Judgement, it is no surprise, to find angels, blowing horns, all around the archivolts. This one is the largest on the right side of the portal, just over the apostles´ heads (previous upload).