Basilique Saint-Remi et la Sainte Ampoule

Reims

It is here, over the chapel of Saint-Christophe where Saint Remi was buried, that the largest Romanesque church in northern France rises. Remi, bishop of Reims, baptised Clovis around 496–498: tradition tells that at the moment of baptism, as the cleric carrying the holy chrism could not get through, a dove came down from heaven bearing a phial of miraculous oil — the Holy Ampulla. Carefully guarded by the monks of the abbey of Saint-Remi, it was carried in solemn procession to the cathedral to anoint the kings of France, from Henry I to Charles X. Publicly smashed at the Revolution, the fragments that were saved were gathered into a new reliquary kept in the basilica, together with the relics of Saint Remi, whose tomb occupies the centre of the choir. The present church, consecrated by Pope Leo IX in 1049, stretches for 126 metres, its Romanesque nave extended by a four-storey Gothic choir. In the nave hangs the crown of light, six metres across with 96 candles, one for each year of the saint's life; it is lit on the first Sunday of October each year. The basilica was raised again stone by stone over forty years, in the 20th century, by the architect Henri Deneux. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it remains the great pilgrimage sanctuary of Reims, in the willing shadow of the coronation cathedral.

Getting there : Place Chanoine Ladame, Reims, Saint-Remi district, 1.3 km south-east of the cathedral. Free admission, car parks and tram nearby.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound