Draft programme
for the XVIIIth International Meetingof Huguenot Descendants
in Reims, from Monday September 17.
To Saturday 23. 2018
1/ Monday September 17.: from 2:30 p.M. to 7:00 p.m. : Participants arrive in the hotels***
Place d’Erlon in Reims for 6 nights; they will be given the week’s documents, a map of Reims and the detailed programme. They will have some time on their own to discover the town which is listed in the Unesco World Heritage. 8:00 p.m.: Opening dinner close to the hotel.
2/ Tuesday September 18.: Buses leave at 8:30 a.m. Beyond the Marne valley and the most beautiful vineyards hills of Champagne, Condé-en-Brie was the Castle where Louis de Condé, the leader of the protestant party lived ; the best artists decorated it in the XVIIIth century. Visit and lunch at the castle. In Château-Thierry, visit of the American Memorial Church and its exceptional stained-glass windows.
3/ Wednesday September 19.: Buses leave at 8:00 a.m., trip to visit the Thierache area. In Lemé, a visit of the temple-museum of the French protestantism in the North of France, and of a fortified church in Parfondeval, one of the most attractive villages in France, where a temple was built.
4/ Thursday September 20.: Buses leave at 8:30 a.m. A day in Reims to visit the famous sites – from the Roman times to the Art-deco period -, a wine cellar*, and at last the Reims temple to remember the protestant families who played an important part in the city ; the representatives of the huguenot associations will then tell us about their activities and their future projects.
5/ Friday September 21.: Buses leave at 8:30 a.m. to Sedan. On the road one can see the sculpture of the biggest wild boar in the world, Woinic, the symbol of the Ardennes. Sedan is crowned by the huge medieval fortified castle belonging to the Lamarcks and later to the La Tour d’Auvergne family, who provided the town with a protestant college and academy. Students from all over France and Europe came to study there, giving the town an intellectuel reputation at the time when the economic influence of the local cloth manufacturers was spreading. The tombs of the Orange-Nassau can be found in the temple. On our way back, we might have a look at the ruins of Montcornet*, a medieval castle which was a Croÿ property.
6/ Saturday September 22.: Buses leave at 8:30 a.m. for a day trip to Wassy, where a museum of the „Barn of Wassy“ was installed in the XIXth century temple, to keep the memory of the drama which was the very beginning of the Religion wars. In Bar-le-Duc, we will see sculptures by Ligier-Richier (XVIth century); heworked in a catholic region, converted to protestantism and later went on exile in Geneva. His impressive sculpture of "Le Transi" René de Chalon, prince d’Orange, killed in 1544. can be seen in Eglise Saint-Etienne. ("Le Transi" is an effigy in the macabre form of a decomposing corpse).
7/ Sunday September 23. Church service in the Reims temple, lunch with the congregation, end of the reunion.
* Programme set on December 15. 2017, subject to obtaining all necessary consents.