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-Lumière._
The name _Dieu-Lumière_, 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-Lumière on the right to the_ Place St.-Timothée. The wood-panelled houses, whose _loges_ faced the Place St.-Timothée, 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 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 façade 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.