The earliest tracery of which the date is known is that still existing in the choir chapels of the Reims Cathedral (1211).
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By comparison, the largest cathedrals of Northern France, Notre Dame de Paris, Amiens, Rouen, Reims and Chartres, are all about 135–140 metres in length, as is Cologne in Germany.
Beside obtaining from the French legislature an appropriation of two millions of francs for the restoration of Reims cathedral, he secured for the Trappists the ancient Abbey of Igny, and for the Oratorians the priory of Binson, and erected at Châtillon the colossal statue of Pope Urban II, whose cultus he had promoted in Rome.
He was born into a family of musicians: his father, his grandfather, and his Uncle Robert were organists at the Reims Cathedral, the Basilica of St. Pierre and St. Hilaire, respectively.