Archbishop Alberic Humbert laid the
foundation stone in 1212. The whole province contributed liberally to the
work, and in 1242 the building was sufficiently advanced for the
celebration of divine service in the choir.
The Church of Notre Dame of Rheims would require a volume to describe it
completely. The front is perhaps the most elaborate to be found in France.
The three vast portals, peopled with statues of colossal size, their
arched vaulting covered with saintly and angelic figures, the mighty rose-
windows, flanked with pointed openings, crowned with carved tabernacle
work, and the great gallery of kings crossing the whole front, just below
the peak of the gable, and above all, the two towers pierced by majestic
windows and supported at each corner by niches with three open faces, give
an impression of richness and brightness and grace, mingled with that
indefinable majesty, which is due partly to the vast dimensions, partly to
the harmonious proportions of the whole structure.
The divisions of the front facade resemble somewhat the same part of the
edifice at Amiens, excepting that it is far more florid, and less strict
and severe in its main divisions.
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