- Département
- Marne
- Site
- Plaine de Champagne, on the Suippe, about 15 km north-north-east of Reims
- Inhabitants
- 1,793 (as of 1 January 2023)
- Source
- Wikipedia, eigene Zusammenfassung
A village on the Suippe, a good 15 kilometres north-east of Reims, surrounded by farmland rather than vines. Boult-sur-Suippe is best known for its Roman finds.
Boult-sur-Suippe, in the Marne département, is a village where the plough leaves more of a mark than the secateurs. It is neither a Grand Cru nor a Premier Cru village. But if you are looking for a detour from Reims away from the well-known champagne routes, you will find an unusually rich history here.
Location
The village lies about 15 kilometres north-north-east of Reims, on the northern edge of the département, right on the border with the Ardennes. The Suippe flows through the commune from east to west in a broad valley. The centre sits at around 70 metres above sea level, and the land rises to over 100 metres to the north and south. About 86 per cent of the area is farmland and roughly 9 per cent woodland, mostly along the river. Neighbouring villages include Bazancourt to the east and Saint-Étienne-sur-Suippe to the west. Boult-sur-Suippe has 1,793 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2023), who call themselves Bouquins and Bouquines. The name goes back to a Gaulish word for birch.
Champagne without vines
The famous vineyards of Champagne lie on the Montagne de Reims, in the Marne valley and on the Côte des Blancs. Boult-sur-Suippe belongs to the plain of Champagne to the north of them. For lovers of good wine, the village is therefore above all a place for a day out near Reims, where you will find the champagne houses and tastings.
Boult-sur-Suippe has 1,793 inhabitants (as of 1 January 2023), who call themselves Bouquins and Bouquines.
History
The first traces of human presence go back to the Neolithic period, around 5000 to 4500 BC. In Gallo-Roman times this was an important site on the Roman road from Reims to Cologne. In 1984 construction workers came across a mausoleum whose fresco survived in around 4,500 fragments. It shows the dying Adonis being tended by Eros while Aphrodite holds him. The colours, carmine, mauve, pink and turquoise, are unusual for paintings of this kind. In 2022, archaeologists from Inrap also uncovered the remains of a wooden Roman theatre more than 65 metres in diameter.
Later, the inhabitants suffered through the Wars of Religion, the Fronde and the War of the Spanish Succession. The greatest destruction, however, came from water: the Suippe flood peaked on 22 February 1784. Afterwards the village was raised to higher ground, which is why the church now stands a little apart. In the First World War, German troops occupied the village on 11 September 1914. By the end of the war it was considered destroyed, and on 1 October 1920 it was awarded the Croix de Guerre. In the Second World War, Boult was occupied on 10 June 1940 and liberated on 30 August 1944.
Sights
- Church of Sainte-Croix, 12th/13th century, restored after the damage of the First World War and protected as a Monument historique since 1920
- Chapel of Notre-Dame-du-Bon-Secours, dating from 1537, destroyed and rebuilt several times, restored in 2003 and 2004
- Memorial to the dead of the First World War
- The Croix de Guerre on the façade of the town hall
Pictures
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