[6] The settlement of a tribe of Gauls called the Remes, named Durocortorum, had been recorded by Julius Caesar in his accounts of the Gallic Wars.

At the beginning of the 5th century, in the Merovingian period, the Bishop Nicasius transferred the cathedral its present location, the site formerly occupied by Gallo-Roman bath built by the Emperor Constantine.

[14][15][16] In 816, Louis the Pious, the King of the Franks and Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, was crowned in Reims by Pope Stephen IV.

[15] Beginning in about 818, the archbishop Ebbo and the royal architect Rumaud began to build a much larger church from the ground up on the same site, using stone from the old city ramparts.

[19] The historian Richerus, a pupil of Adalbero, gives a very precise description of the work carried out by the archbishop:[20] "He completely destroyed the arcades which, extending from the entrance to nearly a quarter of the basilica, up to the top, so that the whole church, embellished, acquired more extent and a more suitable form (...).

[30] Several clerics were killed or injured during the resulting violence and the entire cathedral chapter fled the city, leaving it under an interdict (effectively banning all public worship and sacraments).

[31] Work on the new cathedral was suspended for three years, only resuming in 1236 after the clergy returned to the city and the interdict was lifted following mediation by the king and the pope.

In the rose windows of the western façade, however, the glass exceeds the round frames to fill the whole pointed-arched areas available (i.e. Rayonnant, an advanced form of High Gothic).

A labyrinth built into floor of the nave at the time of construction or shortly after (similar to examples at Chartres and Amiens) included the names of these four master masons (Jean d'Orbais, Jean-le-Loup, Gaucher of Reims and Bernard de Soissons) and the number of years they worked there, though art historians still disagree over who was responsible for which parts of the building.

Documentary records show the acquisition of land to the west of the site in 1218, suggesting the new cathedral was substantially larger than its predecessors, the lengthening of the nave presumably being an adaptation to afford room for the crowds that attended the coronations.

[38] After Henry V of England defeated Charles VI's army at the Battle of Agincourt on 25 October 1415, most of northern France including Reims fell to the English.

Mobs hammered much of the sculpture of the grand portal and the more evident symbols of royalty, such as the fleur-de-lis emblems, and the royal Hand of Justice were burned.

[45] A series of restoration projects were carried out in the later 19th century, focusing first on the gables and statues on the west front (1826–30), and then the upper galleries, windows and towers (1845–60), under Jean-Jacques Arveuf.

[46] He was succeeded by two more architects, Eugene Millet and Victor Ruprich-Robert, who took considerable liberties in remaking the galleries of the nave in a more imaginative 13th-century Gothic style.

[57] Single shells continued to strike the ruined building for several years, despite repeated pleas by Pope Benedict XV.

The restoration received major funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, and sometimes made use of modern techniques and materials, including prefabricated reinforced concrete, to strengthen the structure.

[62] On 8 October 2016, a plaque bearing the names of the 31 kings crowned in Reims was placed in the cathedral in the presence of the archbishop Thierry Jordan and Prince Louis-Alphonse, Duke of Anjou, the main of the three pretenders to the French throne.

The north rose window is one of the earliest examples of the use of bar tracery, with the panes of stained glass separated by thin stone mullions.

[68] The north transept is flanked by two tall buttresses, which are crowned by slender tabernacles containing statues of kings, covered with spires decorated with more late Gothic crockets.

These counterbalance the outward thrust of the ceiling vaults, and make possible the great height, thin walls and large windows that bring abundant light into the nave.

The statuary gives additional weight to the buttresses, helps conceal the arches, and complements the decoration of the upper level of the cathedral.

The buttresses have a secondary function; the arches have narrow channels that carry rain water to the mouths of the sculpted gargoyles which spout it away from the building.

[70] An additional decorative blind gallery was added to the upper walls after a fire of 1481, composed of a series of arches, pinnacles, trilobe rosettes and gables.

[73] The capitals of the columns were another distinctive Reims characteristic; they were composed of delicate floral and vegetal sculpture, decorated in places with imaginary creatures.

On the hour, a series of figures, representing the seasons, the phases of the moon, and the Biblical Magi appear and disappear from the doors on the face of the clock.

The chapel of the saint Joan of Arc, who had famously attended the coronation of Charles VI in the cathedral, contains her statue, dressed in full armour with a banner.

The grand organ is located in the north transept, just below the rose window, and is surmounted by a sculpture of Christ giving a blessing and two angels playing trumpet.

It is the fifth largest in France, with six thousand six hundred pipes, eighty-five stops or distinct sounds played by four keyboards, sixty-one notes, and thirty-two foot pedals.

It complements the scene of the crowning of the Virgin Mary in sculpture on the exterior of the façade The circles of glass medallions in the window, from the centre outwards, represent the twelve apostles, angel musicians, and the kings and prophets of the Old Testament.

The Talisman of Charlemagne (12th century), contains a purported fragment of the True Cross, and is decorated with sapphires, gold, emeralds and pearls.