By Barr Ferree New York Leonard Scott Publication Company 1917 Copyright, 1917, By Barr Ferree. All rights reserved....

The bombardment of Reims, and the attendant destruction of its cathedral, is an event that has particularly excited the indignation of the civilized world. The sacrifice has seemed so wanton and so unnecessary that the souls of those who have not known the great church by personal observation have cried out in indignation against the outrage, while to those who have known it, its long continued passion has aroused the feeling of an intense personal loss. No other episode of the Great War has acc

From "La Cathédrale de Reims," Libraire Centrale des Beaux-Arts, Paris. THE WEST PORTALS...

L'Illustration THE CATHEDRAL AFTER THE BOMBARDMENTS OF APRIL, 1917 THE APSE AND SOUTH TRANSEPT...

The present chronicle stops at the third anniversary of the first bombardment. On September 2, 1914 the French army evacuated Reims. The bombardment actually began on September 3, 1914 by the dropping of two bombs by German aviators. It was an unexpected preface to the formal bombardment of the next day, when the Germans sent 176 shells into Reims, although actually in possession of the city. September 3, 1917 thus completes three full years of the bombardment, which has accomplished nothing sav

This magnificent church was begun May 6, 1211, the foundation stone being laid on that date on the site of an earlier edifice burned in 1210. The work was pushed so rapidly that the choir was completed and occupied September 7, 1241. The architect was Jean d'Orbais, to whom the initial conception is due, and who continued in charge to 1231. He was succeeded by Jean Le Loup (1231-1247), who completed the choir and about 1240 undertook the façade of the north transept. Gaucher de Reims (1247-1255)

Immediately adjoins the south transept of the cathedral. Repaired and rebuilt many times. The oldest surviving portion is the chapel called the "Chapelle Palatine," built in two stories, and attributed to Jean d'Orbais, the architect of the cathedral. It lost its roof early in the bombardment. The great hall of the place, called the "Salle du Tau" was built at the end of the XV century; it contains a Gothic chimneypiece dating from 1498. The apartments of the King consisting of five rooms, resto

One of the most beautiful Romanesque churches in northern France. The larger part of its structure dates from 1005 to 1049, having been built in three efforts within that time. The choir, with its fine circlet of radiating chapels, was built between 1170 and 1190. The south transept front was rebuilt in 1506. The church has been many times repaired and its form and structure modified. The west front was so completely modified after 1840 that only the two lower stages remain of the earlier buildi

Of the church begun in 1190 and continued in the first years of the XII century, only fragmentary parts remain. It was partially reconstructed at the beginning of the XIV century. The choir and its chapels date from the XVI century. The lantern of the crossing replaced a Gothic spire removed in 1711, and the north transept and other parts were rebuilt in 1854....

The choir, dating from 1627, is flanked by a beautiful flamboyant chapel built towards 1546. The nave is modern....

St. André , built between 1857 and 1864.— St. Thomas , built in 1847.— St. Geneviève , built in 1877.— St. Clotilde , built in commemoration of the fourteenth centenary of the baptism of Clovis (496-1896).— St. Benoît and St. Jean Baptiste de la Salle are very recent churches....

The fine Hôtel de Ville was commenced in 1627 on the plans of a native architect, Jean Bonhomme. Begun with the left pavilion, the main façade, with the central pavilion and its tower, were completed by 1630. Left incomplete for nearly two centuries, the right pavilion was added in 1823-1825 by Serrurier, also an architect of Reims. Great additions and new buildings around a central court were added between 1875 and 1880. The relief of Louis XIII in the central pediment by Milhomme, placed in 18

The Place Royale , begun in 1757, is closed on one side by the Hôtel des Fermes , a stately edifice with a central pediment supported by columns. In the centre of the Place is a statue of Louis XV by Cartellier, replacing an earlier statue by Pigalle, inaugurated in 1765 and destroyed in the Revolution. Two allegorical groups by Pigalle for the pedestal survived. Maison des Musiciens , dating from the time of St. Louis, has a remarkable façade of large twin-windows alternating with trilobed nich

Grand Séminaire , occupies the buildings of the former abbey of St. Denis. The original parts are of the time of Louis XV; they were considerably modified and added to in 1822, when the seminary took possession of them. It later served as the Musée des Beaux-Arts, inaugurated in 1913. The Lycée occupies the buildings of the University or college founded by the Cardinal of Lorraine in the XVI century, and rebuilt in 1676. Although greatly changed, the interior court, half wood, half masonry, reta

Hôtel-Dieu [Civil Hospital], founded by archbishop Hincmar in 848, was transferred to the buildings of the abbey of St. Remi in 1827. Repaired and rebuilt at various times, they retain few vestiges of the middle ages. They were partly renewed after a fire in 1774. Burned in the bombardment of August 13, 1916.— Hôpital General , occupies the former college of the Jesuits, the older parts dating from the XVII century. The former library, now the linen room, is an apartment of some magnificence. It

Palais de Justice , built in 1845, on the site of the old Hôtel Dieu; a new façade was recently added.— Théâtre , built between 1866-1873.— Chambre de Commerce occupies the former Hôtel Clicquot-Ponsardin, in the style of Louis XVI. While the material for a survey of the destruction of the buildings of Reims is not yet available, the following notes may be found of interest in forming a judgment on the effects of the bombardment, and its military uselessness. The record is manifestly incomplete,

September 4. The window glass in the aisle of the north transept was broken by a bomb falling in the adjoining street. Other shells fell directly on the cathedral, striking the gable of the north transept; the upper nave windows were pierced, and the rose window over the central west portal. Some of the portal statues, including the Virgin of the group of the Visitation, and an apostle of the south porch were broken. There were various external indications of projectiles and minor injuries. Sept

Burned on September 19, 1914, in which the cathedral was so seriously injured. The building was almost wholly destroyed. The chapel lost its roof and glass. The library and collections of the Académie Nationale de Reims, which were housed in the palace, were lost, together with the archeological collections, including the prehistoric collection (Collection Posteaux) and the ethnographic collection (Musée Guillot)....

Injured in the bombardment of September 4, 1914. The vault of the south transept fell through, the ancient glass of the apse triforium and of the upper nave windows was broken, as well as the modern glass of the apse chapels windows, and in other parts. The interior was ruined, the losses including a painting "The Entry of Clovis to Reims" and one of the tapestries of the "Life of St. Remi". The chapel facing the baptismal font suffered some exterior injury. A bomb destroyed the apse chapel of N

St. André. On September 19, 1914, a bomb fell on the left transept portal, breaking the glass in near-by parts; painting of "The Baptism of Clovis" lost. September 22, 1914, a shell fell on the church at 11 A. M. April 15, 1917, it caught fire, and it was again injured on April 28. St. Jean Baptiste de la Salle. 3 shells fell on this church in the bombardment of December, 1914. The glass was broken and the interior injured. St. Clotilde. September 22, 1914, most of the glass ruined by a near-by

Hôtel de Ville. Lost the glass of the west side September 14, 1914. Received several shells in the bombardment of September 19, 1914. A fire started, but no essential injury resulted. It was gravely injured April 21, 1917, and was destroyed by fire on May 3. Palais de Justice. Lost the glass of its main façades September 4, 1914. A shell fell through the roof on October 2, 1914, injuring the interior; both façades were hurt, especially the newer one. February 3, 1916, some fragments of French sh