The Reims Opera House was originally called the Grand Théâtre when it was first built in 1873. It was severely damaged in World War I. After several years’ delay it was rebuilt by two architects named François Maille and Louis Sollier, who kept the original façade but redesigned the interior Read More …
When I was in Reims in 2013 I had the pleasure of attending a talk by Francis Albou about the second act of the opera Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The lecture was held at the Conservatory, not the opera house, but it’s a good thing I asked at Read More …
As I have mentioned elsewhere, after checking into a new hotel in a new city (or a new neighborhood) I like to take a walk around the block and see what there is to see in the immediate vicinity. I did this on the morning of my second day in Read More …
Continuing on my walk around the block from my hotel, or rather my Résidence Hôtelière, I soon came upon the Chapelle Notre Dame de la Paix (Chapel of Our Lady of Peace), popularly known as Foujita’s chapel. I don’t think I had ever even heard of the Japanese artist Tsuguharu Read More …
The first French king to be crowned in the Reims Cathedral was Louis VIII in 1223. The twenty-fifth and last was Charles X in 1825. Charles’s predecessor Louis XVIII and his successor Louis Philippe both decided not to have elaborate coronation ceremonies so as not to stir up even more Read More …
The characters in Rossini’s opera Il viaggio a Reims never do get to Reims, and for a few minutes I thought I wasn’t going to get there either, because my TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse = train of great speed) came to an unscheduled halt shortly after leaving the Paris Read More …
The date usually given for the end of World War II is either May 8 or May 9, 1945, shortly before or shortly after midnight, which is when the German High Command signed the surrender papers in Berlin. A day before, on May 7, lower ranking German officers had already Read More …
An unusual feature of the new Reims tramway is that when the tram approaches the center of the city it suddenly loses its overhead wires and gets its electricity from an electric rail in the middle of the track. At first sight I found this rather alarming (as I have Read More …