The village stands above sloping vineyards and fields: Épernay, the principal entrepôt of the Champagne wines, is within walking distance.

Here also was born Reynald of Châtillon, called "Le Loup" (the Wolf) by Muslims, who went to the Holy Land on the Second Crusade and remained there for the rest of his life.

The little fortress called Castellionum super Matronam commanded a strategic crossroads in the valley of the Marne and was repeatedly attacked and demolished and refortified, including during 1575.

The statue, which was erected from August 1879, is composed of eighty blocks of Kersanton granite executed by the sculptor Le Goff.

The statue was inaugurated July 21, 1887 by the papal nuncio and two dozen prelates, to a crowd of 20,000 in grandiose fêtes that lasted for three days.