Palace of Tau

About

The Tau Palace was one of the residences of Archbishops of Reims. He owes his name to his plan, which in the Middle Ages was in the form of a letter T (Tau in Greek). A building adjacent to Notre-Dame de Reims Cathedral, it was also a royal residence during the sacres of the kings of France in Reims.

Occupied since the fifth century at this site, the former residence of the bishops and archbishops of Reims was enlarged and rebuilt over the centuries, with significant changes in the late 15th century and in the 1680-1690s. The palace was transformed into a court of law and then a trade exchange during the French Revolution. Gravely damaged during a fire at the beginning of the First World War, on 19 September 1914, following bombardments on the cathedral, the Tau Palace was restored from the 1950s and since 1972 houses the museum of the Reims Cathedral and of the Kings of France.