Laid flat by the bombs of World War I, REIMS (pronounced like a nasal "Rance") may give the first impression of being a large industrial centre with little to redeem it. However, the town is not as large as it looks, and there are other reasons for visiting here: apart from its status as champagne capital of the world, Reims possesses one of the most impressive Gothic cathedrals in France - formerly the coronation church of dynasties of French monarchs going back to Clovis, first king of the Franks - whose 1500th anniversary celebrations in 1996 provoked fierce controversy between Catholics and secularists.

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The old centre of Reims stretches from the cathedral and its adjacent episcopal palace north to place de la République's triumphal Roman arch, the Porte de Mars, punctuated by the grand squares of place Royale, place du Forum and place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville. Over to the south, about fifteen minutes' walk from the cathedral, is the other historical focus of the town, the Abbaye de St-Remi , and nearby the Jesuits' College .

To the east of here are most of the champagne maisons and, further east still, a museum of cars.

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