The Cathedral of the Kings

Built in the XIII century on the site of the previous basilica where Clovis received the Sacrament of Baptism – one of the founding acts of the very Christian Kingdom of France – the Cathedral Our Lady of Reims is a jewel of the Gothic art. It is the Cathedral where the Kings of France were anointed and crowned. (The anointing was even more important than the crowning and was considered to be a “quasi-sacrament” similar to the consecration of the Bishops: the King of France was referred as “l’évêque du dehors.”) Twenty five Kings have been anointed in this Cathedral. Louis VIII was the first in 1223 and Charles X the last in 1825.