Date

Circa 1910

Creator

A feast at the Palace of Tau followed the coronation Mass. In the image of Christ at the Last Supper, the King, with his ornaments and wearing his crown, took his place in the middle of the twelve Peers. It is the palace of the Archbishop of Reims. It is associated with the Kings of France, whose coronation was held in the nearby cathedral of Notre-Dame de Reims; 32 kings proceeded to the coronation from this palace, the last being Charles X in 1825. A large Gallo-Roman villa still occupied the site of the palace in the 6th and 7th centuries, and later became a Carolingian palace. The first documented use of the name dates to 1131, and derives from the plan of the building, which resembles the letter Τ (tau, in the Greek alphabet). Most of the early building has disappeared: the oldest part remaining is the chapel, from 1207. The building was largely rebuilt in Gothic style between 1498 and 1509, and modified to its present Baroque appearance between 1671 and 1710 by Jules Hardouin-Mansart and Robert de Cotte. It was damaged by a fire on 19 September 1914, and not repaired until after the Second World War.