Reims was shelled for much of the First World War, and most of its centre had to be rebuilt in the 1920s and 1930s. This guide covers five places that show both the old city and its rebuilding: the Gothic cathedral where French kings were crowned, the Art Deco Carnegie Library, the Palais de Justice, the Opéra and the Subé fountain on Place Drouet d'Erlon. They lie on one short line from the cathedral to the main pedestrian square.
Reims Cathedral
Notre-Dame de Reims was begun around 1211. A labyrinth once set in the nave floor named four master masons, Jean d'Orbais, Jean-le-Loup, Gaucher de Reims and Bernard de Soissons, though historians still argue over who built which part. The cathedral stands where, by tradition, Saint Remi baptised Clovis, king of the Franks, around 496, and that baptism is the reason French kings came here to be crowned. All but seven of them were. The most famous coronation was that of Charles VII on 17 July 1429, after Joan of Arc had helped retake the city; the last was Charles X in 1825.
German shelling began on 4 September 1914, and on 19 September shells set fire to the timber roof, which burned away and damaged the bells, windows and sculpture. Restoration began in 1919 under Henri Deneux, with large funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, and the cathedral reopened in 1938. Since 1991 it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is one of the stops on our scavenger hunt.
- The Smiling Angel on the left-hand portal of the west front, damaged in the war and later put back in its place.
- The Gallery of Kings high on the west front: 56 statues, each about four and a half metres tall.
- The three stained-glass windows by Marc Chagall, made with the glass artist Charles Marq, in the axial chapel at the far east end.
Carnegie Library
When the war was over, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace gave Reims 200,000 dollars to rebuild its library, whose old home in the city hall had been damaged. The local architect Max Sainsaulieu drew the plans, and his design moved towards the new Art Deco style. Building ran from 1921, and the library was inaugurated on 10 June 1928 in the presence of President Gaston Doumergue and the American ambassador Myron T. Herrick.
Its interior kept its Art Deco decoration, from the mosaics to the glass ceiling by Jacques Gruber over the reading room, with its oak floors and mahogany panelling. The library is one of the stops on our scavenger hunt.
- The entrance hall with its onyx panels, wall mosaics and the hanging lamp by the Reims glassmaker Jacques Simon, above a fountain meant as the source of knowledge.
- The wrought-iron main door, and the bust of Andrew Carnegie in the walled garden opposite the entrance.
Palais de Justice
The Palais de Justice stands on Place Myron Herrick, named after that same American ambassador, a few steps from the cathedral. It was built in the 1830s on the site of the former Hôtel-Dieu, the old hospital for the sick and poor, with the columns and pediment that French courthouses of the time borrowed from antiquity. The First World War left it largely destroyed, and postcards from around 1928 show it with a new roof but its facade still under repair. It still houses the city's courts and is one of the stops on our scavenger hunt.
- The classical front with its columns and pediment, best seen from the square in front of it.
Opéra de Reims
The city theatre, today the Opéra de Reims, was built in 1873 by the architect Alphonse Gosset, who took ideas from the Paris Opera, including its stepped roof, and covered the building with ornament on the theme of music. It burned during the First World War and was rebuilt in 1931–1932, when François Maille and Louis Sollier designed a new interior. The hall seats 748 people. The Opéra is one of the stops on our scavenger hunt.
- The chandelier by the ironwork artist Edgar Brandt, seven and a half metres wide, framed by the ceiling painted by René Rousseau-Decelle. You see it if you go to a performance or a guided visit.
- The terraced roofline modelled on the Paris Opera, and the musical ornament on the facade.
The Subé fountain
At the end of Place Drouet d'Erlon, the long pedestrian square of cafés and restaurants, stands the Subé fountain, inaugurated in 1906. It was paid for by a gift from Auguste Subé (1807–1899), a local wool merchant, and designed by the architect André Najoux. A column wrapped in vines rises from the basin, and on top a gilded winged figure of Fame balances on a globe. In 1942 the German occupiers took down the original statue and melted it for its bronze; the golden figure you see today was put up in 1989. Place Drouet d'Erlon is the last stop of our scavenger hunt.
- The four water nymphs around the base, which stand for the rivers of the region: the Suippe, the Marne, the Vesle and the Aisne.
- The view along the square from the fountain, lined with buildings, many of them rebuilt after the First World War.
How to see them in one walk
Start at the cathedral and walk around it: the Palais de Justice on Place Myron Herrick and the Carnegie Library are both a few steps away. From there head west through the shopping streets to the Opéra, and finish at the Subé fountain on Place Drouet d'Erlon, where you can sit down at one of the cafés.
See Reims with World City Trail
Our Reims scavenger hunt turns the city centre into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops, from Square Colbert to Place Drouet d'Erlon, and the cathedral, the Carnegie Library, the Palais de Justice and the Opéra are all stops, along with the Porte de Mars, the Musée-Hôtel Le Vergeur, the Cryptoportique and Place Royale.
There is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Reims, for people who prefer a different format.
Play the Reims scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Reims →
Play the outdoor escape game in Reims →
Facts checked in October 2026.