Reims, France

The city of Rheims lies in the Champagne-Ardenne region in north-eastern France 129 km (80 miles) east-northeast of Paris.
Founded by the Gauls, it became a major city during the period of the Roman Empire.

Rheims played a prominent ceremonial role in French monarchical history as the traditional site of the crowning of the kings of France. Thus the Cathedral of Rheims played the same role in France as Westminster Abbey did in England. It housed the Holy Ampulla containing the Saint Chrême, allegedly brought by a white dove at the baptism of Clovis in 496, and used for the anointing, the most important part of the coronation of French kings.