THE ROYAL APARTMENTS IN THE ARCHBISHOP'S PALACE
The Royal Apartments
From the Kings' Hall, access was obtained to five royal saloons with windows looking on the gardens and adorned with portraits of archbishops.
It was in the archbishop's palace that the Kings stayed at the time of their consecration or when passing through Rheims. Henry IV. lived there during his two sojourns at Rheims. He washed the feet of the poor on Holy Thursday in the great hall and listened to the sermon of Father Cotton. Louis XIII. and Richelieu stayed there in 1641, Louis XIV. in 1680, Peter the Great in 1717, Louis XV. in 1722 and 1744, the Queen in 1765, Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette in 1774, and Charles X. in 1825. From year VI. (Revolution Calendar) to 1824 it was occupied by the tribunals. The archbishops formerly held many Councils and Synods there, but lived there only rarely. In the Middle Ages they preferred living in their fortified castle of Porte Mars (see p. [6]). In the 17th and 18th centuries they lived mostly outside Rheims.
After visiting the ruins of the Archbishop's Palace return to the Place du Parvis. Take the Rue Libergier, opposite the Cathedral, turning into the first street on the right (Rue Chanzy). The Museum is soon reached (see Itinerary, p. [61]).
The Museum, formerly The Grand Séminaire
This fine 18th century building was erected by Nicolas Bonhomme in 1743-1752. The carved entrance-door and terraced central pavilion, bordered with a fine balustrade (damaged by shell splinters), are the remains of the ancient Abbey of St. Denis, the church of which was destroyed at the time of the Revolution. The right wing was rebuilt in the 19th century, by order of Cardinal Thomas Gousset. The ground-floor of the left wing is old, but the other floors are modern. These buildings were comparatively little damaged by the bombardments.
