The vast chimney-piece with the Briçonnet and Church of Rheims Arms is all that the fire of 1914 spared of the ancient decoration. It is visible in the photographs on page 64, at the bottom of the hall. [Illustration: ENTRANCE TO THE SALLE DU TAU (OR KINGS' HALL). (_See plan, p. 33._)] The lower hall, with its Gothic arching, was as large as the upper one. The capitals of the prismatic pillars and the key-stones of the arches were adorned with escutcheons, fleur-de-lys, flowers and crockets. =The Archi-episcopal Chapel= (_See plan, p. 33._) This was without doubt the work of Jean d'Orbais, the first architect of the Cathedral. It resembled the latter in many respects. With its seven-sided apse, four-bay nave and lancet-shaped windows without rubber-work, it was remarkably slender and graceful. Its finest ornament was the 13th century bas-relief, _The Adoration of the Magi_, in the tympanum of the entrance door. The white marble inner portico of the door dated from the Restoration. The other, formed of in-laid wood panels, was adorned with five 16th or early 17th century painted figures. The lower chapel, partly subterranean, was fitted up as a lapidary museum in 1865 and 1896. [Illustration: ENTRANCE TO THE ARCHI-EPISCOPAL CHAPEL. (_See plan, p. 33._)] [Illustration: THE ROYAL APARTMENTS IN THE ARCHBISHOP'S PALACE] =The Royal Apartments= From the Kings' Hall, access was obtained to five royal saloons with windows looking on the gardens and adorned with portraits of archbishops. It was in the archbishop's palace that the Kings stayed at the time of their consecration or when passing through Rheims. Henry IV. lived there during his two sojourns at Rheims. He washed the feet of the poor on Holy Thursday in the great hall and listened to the sermon of Father Cotton. Louis XIII. and Richelieu stayed there in 1641, Louis XIV. in 1680, Peter the Great in 1717, Louis XV. in 1722 and 1744, the Queen in 1765, Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette in 1774, and Charles X. in 1825. From year VI. (Revolution Calendar) to 1824 it was occupied by the tribunals. The archbishops formerly held many Councils and Synods there, but lived there only rarely. In the Middle Ages they preferred living in their fortified castle of Porte Mars (_see p._ 6). In the 17th and 18th centuries they lived mostly outside Rheims. _After visiting the ruins of the Archbishop's Palace return to the Place du Parvis. Take the Rue Libergier, opposite the Cathedral, turning into the first street on the right (Rue Chanzy). The Museum is soon reached (see Itinerary, p. 61)._ =The Museum=, formerly =The Grand Séminaire=