ABSTRACT
Between 1919 and 1937 much of the war-damaged cathedral of Reims was excavated by Henri Deneux, the architect charged with its restoration (Plate 7). 1 Roughly half of the sectors opened up at that time remain accessible today in the labyrinthine heating system below the church and in the archaeological crypt created along its north flank in 1927. Features in areas refilled or otherwise now inaccessible are known in varying degrees from Deneux’s plans and photographs. 2 Taking advantage of this rare opportunity to be able to investigate the foundations of a major building in such a complete way, a comprehensive study of the groundwork of the present cathedral was carried out during the archaeological reexamination of the archiepiscopal group in the 1990s, 3 the results of which have been summarized elsewhere. 4 The present chapter focuses on the substructures of the north arm of the present transept with the goal of determining the sequence of their construction as well as the relation of the north arm to the older cathedral and cloister.
