🍇 Discover Reims

📍 Reims City  :

This Summer School will take place in the Grand Est region, known for its large-scale agriculture and Champagne vineyards, at the heart of a dynamic agro-industrial ecosystem. With 3 million hectares of agricultural land generating €5 billion in added value, the region provides an exceptional real-world setting to explore sustainable agriculture and innovative practices supporting this transition.

Reims, the historic coronation city of the kings of France, offers a unique immersion in French history, heritage, and Champagne culture.

Home to leading higher education institutions such as the University of Reims, the city is lively and student-friendly, with cafés, bars, and a welcoming atmosphere.

Located just 45 minutes by train from Paris, Reims combines the charm of a dynamic regional city with easy access to the French capital.

📍 Must See in Reims  :

Notre Dame Cathedrale 🏰

Notre-Dame de Reims  (Our Lady of Reims) is a cathedral dedicated to the Virgin Mary and was the traditional location for the coronation of the kings of France. The cathedral is considered to be one of the most important works of Gothic architecture. A major tourist destination, it receives about a million visitors annually and was recognized as  a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991. 

GPS coordinates: 49.253947019006176, 4.034015209630839

Tau palace (Palais du Tau in French) 🖼️

When the kings of France went to Reims for their coronation, they would stay for several days in the Tau palace, the archbishop's residence situated next to the cathedral. It was also where the post-coronation festivities would be celebrated. 

Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1991, the palace now houses an exceptional museum whose collections trace back the history of the cathedral and its royal coronations. 

GPS coordinates: 49.25374499504545, 4.034876126819612

Champagne Cellars 🍇

Reims, along with Épernay and Ay, functions as one of the centres of champagne production. Many of the largest champagne-producing houses, known as les grandes marques, have their headquarters in Reims, and most open for tasting and tours. Champagne ages in the many caves and tunnels under Reims, which form a sort of maze below the city.

Reims is home to many such prestigious champagne houses/cellars such as Pommery, Veuve Clicquot, Taittinger, Ruinart, G.H. Martel. Their cellars are unique in that they are made up of crayères, impressive galleries dug into the chalk, some of which date back to the Middle Ages.

Ancienne Abbaye Saint-Remi 🔔

The former Abbey of Saint-Remi, also a UNESCO World Heritage site, comprises 2 visitor attractions: the basilica and the historical museum. 

The basilica is sumptuous. Its interior, mixing Gothic and Romanesque styles, is full of spirituality. The Basilica of Saint-Remi is a medieval abbey church founded in the 11th and is the largest Romanesque church in northern France

The museum is housed in the former Abbey of Saint-Remi, founded in the sixth century and which had been keeping since 1099 the relics of Saint Remigius (the Bishop of Reims who converted Frankish king Clovis I to Christianity in 496).

GPS coordinates: 49.24327344474412, 4.0417614538068545

Boulingrin Market 🥬

Since the Boulingrin covered market was opened in 1929, this building has been a part of the identity of Reims. The building was a symbol of the future and the reconstruction following the destruction of World War I, for its modernist architecture, materials, and the use of what were for the time futuristic techniques. Today, it serves as a lively marketplace and hosts temporary exhibitions from time to time.

GPS coordinates: 49.2605186087928, 4.031283296137324