[5] Reims later played a prominent ceremonial role in French monarchical history as the traditional site of the coronation of the kings of France.

The royal anointing was performed at the Cathedral of Reims, which housed the Holy Ampulla of chrism allegedly brought by a white dove at the baptism of Frankish king Clovis I in 496.

Reims Cathedral, the adjacent Palace of Tau, and the Abbey of Saint-Remi were listed together as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991 because of their outstanding Romanesque and Gothic architecture and their historical importance to the French monarchy.

In the course of Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul (58–51 BC), the Remi allied themselves with the Romans, and by their fidelity throughout the various Gallic insurrections secured the special favour of the imperial power.

[8] Reims was first called Durocortorum[9] in Latin, which is hypothesized to derive from a Gaulish name meaning "Door of Cortoro-".

The consul Jovinus, an influential supporter of the new faith, repelled the Alamanni who invaded Champagne in 336, but the Vandals captured the city in 406 and slew Bishop Nicasius;[7] in 451 Attila the Hun put Reims to fire and sword.

Archbishop Adalberon (in office 969 to 988), seconded by the monk Gerbert (afterwards (from 999 to 1003) Pope Silvester II), founded schools which taught the classical "liberal arts".

The Treaty of Troyes (1420) ceded it to the English, who had made a futile attempt to take it by siege in 1360; French patriots expelled them on the approach of Joan of Arc, who in 1429 had Charles VII consecrated in the cathedral.

[citation needed] During the French Wars of Religion the city sided with the Catholic League (1585), but submitted to King Henri IV after the battle of Ivry (1590).

[7] In 1874 the construction of a chain of detached forts started in the vicinity, the French Army having selected Reims as one of the chief defences of the northern approaches to Paris.

[19] In August 1909 Reims hosted the first international aviation meet, the Grande Semaine d'Aviation de la Champagne.

The British statesman Leslie Hore-Belisha died of a cerebral haemorrhage while making a speech at the Hôtel de Ville in February 1957.

Rue de Vesle is the main commercial street (continued under other names), traversing the city from southwest to northeast through the Place Royale.

The Basilica of Saint-Remi, founded in the 11th century "over the chapel of St. Christophe where St. Remi was buried",[26] is "the largest Romanesque church in northern France, though with later additions.

The churches of Saint-Maurice (partly rebuilt in 1867), Saint-André,[7] and Saint-Thomas (erected from 1847 to 1853, under the patronage of Cardinal Gousset, now buried within its walls[7]) also draw tourists.

The Hôtel de Ville, erected in the 17th century and enlarged in the 19th, features a pediment with an equestrian statue of Louis XIII (reigned 1610 to 1643).

He designed the Reims Manège and Circus, which "combines stone and brick in a fairly sober classical composition.

The Musée Saint-Remi, formerly the Abbey of Saint-Remi, contains tapestries from the 16th century donated by the archbishop Robert de Lenoncourt (uncle of the cardinal of the same name), marble capitals from the fourth century AD, furniture, jewellery, pottery, weapons and glasswork from the sixth to eighth centuries, medieval sculpture, the façade of the 13th-century musicians' House, remnants from an earlier abbey building, and also exhibits of Gallo-Roman arts and crafts and a room of pottery, jewellery and weapons from Gallic civilization, as well as an exhibit of items from the Palaeolithic to the Neolithic periods.

At the beginning of the year, the FARaway - Festival des Arts à Reims is a two-week event of music, dance, theatre, exhibitions, and installations at various cultural venues around the city.

[31] Every year in June, the Fêtes Johanniques commemorate the entrance of Joan of Arc into Reims in 1429 and the coronation of Charles VII of France in the cathedral.

Regalia is an open-air multimedia show telling the story of the French coronations in a dramatic and whimsical fashion.

[34] Between 1925 and 1969, Reims hosted the Grand Prix de la Marne automobile race at the circuit of Reims-Gueux.

Stade Reims became the outstanding team of France in the 1950s and early 1960s and reached the final of the European Cup of Champions twice in that era.

Reims is served by two main railway stations: Gare de Reims in the city centre, the hub for regional transport, and the new Gare de Champagne-Ardenne TGV 5 kilometres (3 miles) southwest of the city with high-speed rail connections to Paris, Metz, Nancy and Strasbourg.

Aside from its Jesuit architecture, the campus also features the oldest grape vines in France,[38] which are harvested every year by the City of Reims and are not at the disposal of students or visitors.

In 2012 the first Reims Model United Nations was launched, which gathered 200 international students from all the Sciences Po campuses.

It provides more than 18,000 students in Reims (22,000 in Champagne-Ardenne) with a wide initial undergraduate studies program which corresponds to society's needs in all domains of the knowledge.