This apse is one of the earliest religious edifices in France, in which flying buttresses were employed.
The latter, very simple in design, rest on outside fluted columns detached from the wall of the apse. This is one of the last examples of fluting, as applied to columns, the process disappearing generally with the introduction of pointed architecture, only to reappear at the Renaissance.
The persistence of this fluting is doubtless explained by the influence of the many specimens of Roman architecture which Rheims had preserved.
The Doorway of the Southern Transept
Although the transept dates from the 11th century, its southern façade was built in 1480 by Robert de Lenoncourt.
The doorway, which bears the Lenoncourt arms, comprises only one door, divided by a pillar with statues of St. Remi and the Virgin.
The deep vaulting of the door is ornamented with vine-foliage. At the base, in the supporting walls, are statues of St. Sixtus and St. Sinicius (the first missionaries to Rheims) bare-footed, clothed in long embroidered mantles and holding books. In the vaulting above the head-covering of the missionaries are eight groups of statuettes representing episodes in the Life and Passion of Jesus.
Tourists who follow the Itinerary on page [95], come out by the Rue St. Julien, in front of the doorway of the south transept. The latter is between the ruined apse (on the right) and the south lateral façade (on the left).
SOUTHERN TRANSEPT OF ST. REMI CHURCH