Location: 6 Place Sainte- Clotilde
Constructed: 1898
Basilica of Saint Clotilde is located in the central part of Reims. Church was built in 1898 in honor of the 1400th anniversary of baptism of King Clovis I by Bishop Saint Remi. Basilica of Saint Clotilde was named after his wife Queen Clotilde. According to a legend Clovis promised his Christian wife that in case of military victory he will baptize himself and his people, the Franks. According to legends Clotilde spent several nights praying for her husband. King Clovis did succeed in his endeavors and kept his word that he gave to his wife Clotilde. Basilica of Saint Clotilde was designed by a famous French architect Alfonso Gosse in the late neo- Byzantine architectural style. It is fairly unique type of church for Western Europe and its appearance certainly stand out comparing to other churches in Reims.
It was erected in 1896 by the Reims architect Alphonse Gosset
(1835-1914) for the fourteenth centenary of the baptism of King Clovis.
Placed under the name of Saint Clotilde, this neo-Byzantine style
building – in the shape of a Greek cross and surmounted by a cupola –
pays homage to the wife of Clovis who was at the origin of the
conversion of the King of the Franks. The building is inspired by the
basilica of Saint-Pierre in Rome and the church of Saint-Augustin in
Paris.
Built at the instigation of Cardinal Benoît-Marie
Langénieux, then Archbishop of Reims, this basilica was to be that of
the saints of France. He solicited for this all the dioceses which
offered relics of the saints having marked the history of France. These
were deposited in the crypt where more than one hundred and twenty
reliquaries and more than two thousand relics are grouped together.
The Sainte Clotilde basilica can be visited two months a year (July
and August) every Sunday from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. and on heritage days on
Sundays from 2 p.m. saints of France.
The Sainte-Clotilde
basilica was one of the places where the fifteenth centenary of the
baptism of Clovis was celebrated in 1996 in the presence of Pope John
Paul II.
On April 18, 2012, the basilica was damaged by a fire
that occurred during roof repair work. 350 m2 of roofing were destroyed
by fire. The northern semi-dome is almost completely destroyed, but the
other parts of the monument and the relics kept in the crypt have not
suffered. It reopened July 2016.
Access to the Sainte-Clotilde basilica is via avenue Sainte-Clotilde. Near the Sainte-Clotilde basilica, the square rue de Verzy, with an area of 4,430 m2, was laid out in 1980. It consists of a central clearing surrounded by tall trees. It has two play areas for children, a ping-pong table, a bowling green, and a canine area with a water point. The park is accessible by avenue Sainte-Clotilde and by rue de Verzy.