Reims's Porte de Mars, Read Vault by Vault

What to do there

4 things to do

1. 1

   Walk Out of Reims Under Flodoard's She-Wolf

   history Free

   The she-wolf a 10th-century historian described, and the founding story he built on it.

   In the 10th century the Reims historian Flodoard described this gate: under the vault on the right as you go out of the city, the she-wolf giving suck to Remus and Romulus; in the middle, the twelve months in the order of the Roman calendar; on the left, the emblem of swans or geese. He used it to tell the story of his city's founding: common opinion made Remus its founder, but Flodoard judged it more probable that Remus's soldiers, exiled, built Reims, since its loftiest gate still bore the name of Mars, father of the Romans in the belief of the ancients. The city's own story ties the name to a temple of Mars nearby.

   WHERE: the Porte de Mars, Place de la République.

   WHAT: start on the city side, to the south, and walk north through the arch if its passages are open, the way out of the old city. Look up into the arcade on your right, the east one: Reims's heritage service reads it as Romulus and Remus nursed by the she-wolf. Then look into the arcade on your left, the west one: Leda and Jupiter in the form of a swan, the birds Flodoard took for swans or geese.

   HOW: the arch stands in a public square, free and open all day. The carvings are worn and hard to read, so take your time and use your phone's zoom.

   BACKUP: if a passage is closed, look into its vault from the open end.

   Log Memory
2. 2

   Find the Grape Pressing in the Roman Year

   history Free

   Seven of twelve Roman months survive in the central vault; one is the pressing of grapes.

   The central arcade carried the Roman road: ruts 30 cm deep were found under this arcade only. Its vault shows the labours of the months, an invention of the Roman world; the city says every other known depiction of the theme is a mosaic. The Reims calendar starts in June and shows two activities already practised in Gallo-Roman times and still decisive in the local economy: growing cereals and growing vines.

   WHERE: under the central arcade.

   WHAT: the city counts 7 of the calendar's 12 scenes surviving, but its caption to Narcisse Brunette's drawing of this vault names nine around a deity in the centre, so expect some to be missing or too worn to read. In the drawing's order, from left to right: the covering of a mare, haymaking, apple picking, the reaping machine, a stag hunt, ploughing, the pressing of grapes, the slaughter of pigs and the bringing-in of provisions. Find the pressing of grapes, which the drawing sets between the ploughing and the pigs, then the reaper, between the apples and the stag hunt. Pliny the Elder described that machine on the vast estates of Gaul: a large frame armed with teeth, on two wheels, pushed through the standing grain from behind. Fragments of its image survive at Buzenol-Montauban, Arlon, Trier and Koblenz, and here.

   HOW: free; the vault carvings survived better than the rest because earth long covered them, but they are still worn, so use your phone's zoom.

   BACKUP: if a passage is closed, look into the vault from either end.

   Log Memory
3. 3

   Tell the Roman Stones From the Restorers'

   adventure Free

   Brunette's rebuilt pier, blank capitals, and the story of Madame Clicquot and the arch.

   The gate was walled up when new walls went up in the 13th–14th centuries and it was taken into the archbishops' castle; it began to reappear when the castle was destroyed in 1595, and it was on the first list of historic monuments, in 1840. In 1853 Prosper Mérimée, the author of Carmen, named inspector-general of historic monuments in 1834, wrote that Reims's town council would rather the arch fell but did not dare demolish it. The repair was a matter of 30,000 to 40,000 francs; his side was sending the marquis de Pastoret to Madame Clicquot, "queen of Reims", who had put her first clerk in the town hall, and he was told that if she deigned to say one word, the arch was saved. The champagne houses' trade body tells the story that she saved it.

   WHERE: the square on the north face, the side away from the city centre.

   WHAT: the pier at the right-hand end, towards the Promenades, is not Roman: the city architect Narcisse Brunette, who finished clearing this face in 1844–45, rebuilt the badly damaged west side, and the Revue de Reims answered: "barbarians, you are making new Gallo-Roman ruins." In the 18-month restoration begun in December 2022, the rubble repairs made since the 19th century were covered with a lime render close in tone to the ancient stone, so the Roman parts stand out, and on this face the Roman capitals were completed with grafts of new stone. On the 2nd pier from the west, several specialists see Aeneas carrying his father Anchises and leading his young son Ascanius.

   HOW: then walk round to the south face, which suffered far more inside the ramparts: its poorly made capitals were replaced by plain roughed-out blocks that restore only the original volume, left uncarved because, the restoration's chief architect says, no one knows exactly how they first looked.

   BACKUP: none needed; it is an open square.

   Log Memory
4. 4

   Taste Two Growers 231 m From the Arch

   wine Price: moderate

   Growers' champagne by the 8 cl glass; the Club says its Spécial Club must pass a blind jury.

   Growing vines, carved in the arch's calendar, is still decisive in the local economy, as the city's heritage service puts it.

   WHERE: La Boutique Trésors de Champagne, 2 rue Olivier Métra, in the Boulingrin quarter, 231 m east of the arch.

   WHAT: the shop the Club opened in 2015 sells about 200 cuvées from the Club's 25 members, under a ceiling of lit bottles. The Club says it has gathered artisan growers since 1971, and that its Spécial Club is a vintage cuvée reserved to members, which must pass two blind tastings by a jury of 5 oenologists, unanimously, to earn the name, and which comes in the Club's own bottle shape with its crest.

   HOW: order the comparative tasting: 8 cl glasses chosen from the week's 9 cuvées, 2 glasses for €15, 3 for €20, or 3 Spécial Club glasses for €30. Booking is advised but not required; groups of more than 8 should contact the shop first.

   BACKUP: on Sundays and Mondays, when the shop lists no hours, G.H. Mumm at 34 rue du Champ de Mars, 641 m north-east of the arch, runs (from 1 March to 21 December) its Expérience Cordon Rouge, a cellar visit with one tasting of Mumm Cordon Rouge, €32 for 1 h 30; the cellars are cool, so bring warm clothing.

   Log Memory

Insider Tips

• On Sundays and Mondays the boutique lists no hours; G.H. Mumm, 641 m from the arch at 34 rue du Champ de Mars, runs its cellar visits on those days from 1 March to 21 December.

• The arch's west end, towards the Promenades, is 19th-century work: the city architect Narcisse Brunette, who finished clearing the north face in 1844–45, rebuilt it.

• The boutique's comparative tasting pours 8 cl a glass; booking is advised but not required, and groups of more than 8 should contact the shop first.

• The city's heritage service warns that the carvings are hard to read: give the vaults good daylight and use your phone's zoom.