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Laid flat by the bombs of World War I,
REIMS
(pronounced like a nasal "Rance") may give the first impression of being a large industrial centre with little to redeem it. However, the town is not as large as it looks, and there are other reasons for visiting here: apart from its status as champagne capital of the world, Reims possesses one of the most impressive Gothic cathedrals in France - formerly the coronation church of dynasties of French monarchs going back to Clovis, first king of the Franks - whose 1500th anniversary celebrations in 1996 provoked fierce controversy between Catholics and secularists.
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