Basilica of Saint-Remi in Reims. WOW WOW!! SIMPLY WONDERFUL!!! - Reims France - ECTV

The Basilica of Saint-Remi in Reims is a minor basilica and parish church located in Reims (Champagne) in France. The building is, after the cathedral which it almost equals in size, the most important church in the city. Dating from the eleventh century, twelfth century, thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, it was for a long time attached to an important abbey, the Abbey of Saint-Remi in Reims, which has been classified as a historical monument since 1840[1]. This church contains the relics of the Bishop of Reims Saint Remi, who baptized Clovis, King of the Franks, on Christmas Day in a year between 496 and 506, perhaps in 499, after the Battle of Tolbiac. However, tradition retains the year 496, celebrated by the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1996 to celebrate the 1,500th anniversary of the baptism of Clovis. The bishop died in 533, at the age of 96. Its reputation for holiness and repeated miracles quickly attracted many pilgrims. In 533, Saint Remi, bishop of Reims, wished to be buried in the chapel dedicated to Saint Christopher, which was located two kilometres from the cathedral. Very quickly this chapel of Saint-Christophe became a place of pilgrimage. As people flocked to the house, religious were installed to guard the body of the holy man. The original chapel was then enlarged to the dimensions of a church, where the body was transferred on October 1, a day that then became Saint-Remi[2]. The Carolingian abbey church Related article: Abbey of Saint-Remi in Reims. Around 760, Abbot Tilpin (romanticized as Turpin in the song of Roland) founded the Abbey of Saint-Remi and installed a Benedictine religious community there that remained there until the French Revolution. In the middle of the ninth century, Archbishop Hincmar of Reims had extensions made and consecrated the Carolingian abbey church, which disappeared after the year 1000. The Romanesque abbey church A project to replace the Carolingian building with a large Romanesque abbey church was initiated by Airard de Reims, abbot from 1009 to 1036, but the plan, too ambitious, was reworked by his successor, Abbot Thierry (1036–1048). The eleven bays of the nave, with galleries and side aisles as well as the transept, remain. At the time, a wooden framework covered the whole. The abbey church was consecrated by Pope Leo IX in 1049, during the Council of Reims. This pope, born in an unknown place in the county of Dabo or that of Eguisheim, travelled extensively between the present-day regions of Italy, France, and Germany. After he was taken prisoner by the Normans and after his death in 1054, there was a schism between the East and the West. Between 1118 and 1151, Abbot Odo had the sanctuary and the monastic choir decorated and this decoration was preserved until the French Revolution. Odo had a mosaic floor made in the monks' choir, which occupied the last four bays of the nave, and in the crossing of the transept. The pavement surrounded and highlighted funerary slabs of important figures, buried in the church since Carolingian times[3]. In particular, there was the tombstone of Queen Gerberge of Saxony, sister of Otto the Great and wife of Louis IV of Outremer, as well as that of her daughter Albrade. The kings of the tenth century, Louis IV and Lothair, were the subject of a more remarkable presentation: their stone statues, representing them seated on thrones, were placed on either side of the great altar, to the east of the crossing[4]. On the other hand, King Carloman I was not involved in this decoration program and before the revolution, no epitaph mentions it. My name is Eric Clark and I am a world traveler. I have been around the world a few times and decided to help fund my travels by sharing my videos and pictures. I have been to almost every country and would be glad to give tips and pointers. Drop me a note. = )