Heritage

The Champagne region holds particular significance for French history. It was originally part of the Roman province of Gallia Belgica, which in the 5th Century became the seat of the Merovingian dynasty that ousted the Romans. At its head was the Frankish King Clovis, whose baptism in Rheims established the precedent for royal anointing in Rheims cathedral that ended with the last King of France, Charles X. In medieval times, Champagne was the venue of great annual trading fairs. In World War I it was the bloody battlefield of the Western Front, later coming to symbolise the reconciliation between France and Germany.
For 300 years the Champagne Houses have been adding to this exceptional heritage through the commissioning of architectural masterpieces that sing the praises of the King of Wines.

UNESCO world heritage

American Memorial Hospital

1919

After the First World War, Mrs Edith Bangs, president of the American Memorial Hospital Foundation, canvassed the support of the great families on the American East Coast to fund a one hundred bed hospital in Rheims.
In April 1919, an American doctor named Marie-Louise Lefort arrived in Rheims with a large team to treat the victims of gas warfare.

Krug

Cité-jardin du Chemin-Vert

1919

In 1919, with Rheims in ruins after the ravages of the First World War, Joseph Krug proposed the idea for The Chemin-Vert Garden City. Construction was placed in the hands of the Foyer Rémois agency that was set up in 1912 by the industrialist Georges Charbonneaux.

Krug