48 hours in Metz

Great East/2024

As close to Paris as it is to Frankfurt, Metz has become a true European crossroads. Erected in 2010, the Centre Pompidou-Metz, the first example of the decentralization of a national cultural institution, has redefined the urban identity of this city with its Roman and medieval influences.

Capital of the Frankish kingdom of Austrasia, cradle of the Carolingians, episcopal city within the Holy Roman Empire... Metz has long benefited (and suffered) from its geographical location at the heart of European crossroads. Metz's heritage, with its joyful mix of architectural styles, is a living witness to a journey through time. The 800-year-old Gothic cathedral of Saint-Étienne, for example, illustrates the artistic grandeur of the medieval era. Nicknamed the "Lanterne du Bon Dieu" (God's Lantern) for its 6,500 m2 of stained glass windows (a French record), including those by Marc Chagall, the cathedral was built from local Jaumont stone. Under the sun, it glows like gold! Established on the Place des Armes, it serves as a landmark. It's the starting point for a beautiful stroll through history... Starting with the Musée de la Cour d'Or, which houses the remains of the Gallo-Roman thermal baths, as well as an impressive Judaic and archaeological collection combining fine and popular arts. In 2025, it will be completed by a biodiversity pavilion. On Place Jeanne-d'Arc, the renovation of Sainte-Ségolène (the only church of its kind in France) can be appreciated in cathedral-like silence. Behind its neo-Gothic façade lies the oldest piece of 12th-century stained glass in Lorraine: the green Christ on the Cross, visible on the left side of the choir. The choir features stained-glass windows by Laurent-Charles Maréchal, which resemble photographs, so precise are the faces of the saints! On the way back down, you could almost hear humming in the Chapelle des Trinitaires, a former neo-Gothic church that has become the headquarters of the Cité Musicale, where it would be unwise to step on a Graoully. The town's emblem, the dragon, can be seen everywhere. Legend has it that it used to devour 7 girls and 7 boys a day before it was dislodged from the amphitheatre by St. Clement, then drowned in the Seille. Since that day, the town has become Christian - there were 77 churches under Charlemagne... Marked by its history and religious architecture, the town has appropriated its vestiges in the name of renewal. The Récollets cloister, a former Gothic convent, has become the city's green lung. Various institutes are working to make Metz one of France's greenest cities. In 2024, the city council launched the "Je fleuris ma rue" participative greening operation. A success story. Green explodes here and there, as on rue des Murs. It leads to the picturesque Place Saint-Louis, crowned with 16th-century arcades and balconies. Next, let yourself be carried away by the frenzy of Rue Taison, Metz's oldest street, which leads to the cathedral. At the nearby Marché Couvert, which was once a palace in the 19th century, you can now enjoy a "paris-metz", a pastry winking at the arrival of the TGV in 2007, and mirabelle plum brandy from Distillerie de Mélanie. Another contemporary art success story is the Frac Lorraine. Housed in the town's oldest building dating from the 12th century - recognizable by its small window framed in white - it underpins the artistic dimension of the district. As you head up the riverbank to board a Mettis bus, you discover the city's most modern face, restructured by the Centre Pompidou-Metz. Crowned by a majestic roof made of a flexible mesh of wooden beams resembling a Chinese hat, this contemporary jewel is a work of art in itself. Before Nicolas Sarkozy cut the ribbon in 2010, it took seven years for the commissioned architects, Japanese Shigeru Ban and Frenchman Jean de Gastines, to conceive this symbol of cultural openness. For the result was to be very different from the Centre Pompidou in Paris, home to Europe's largest collection of modern and contemporary art - from which its youngest child will be able to draw. The two artists therefore imagined "an architecture that expresses openness, the mixing of cultures and well-being, in an immediate and sensorial relationship with the environment". The result is a space of over 10,000 m2, half of which is devoted to the presentation of works, and three modular galleries (the rest being dedicated to cinema, live entertainment and gastronomy...). The iconic architecture is matched by a technical feat, since it took just three years to build the museum, whose central spire rises to a height of 77 metres, a reference to the year the Parisian Centre opened (1977). The programming, too, is spectacular. German artist Katharina Grosse's immersive work Déplacer les étoiles - 8,250 m2 of fabric suspended in an immense colorful drape in the Grande Nef - bears witness to the successful appropriation of a masterly space in the service of an equally grandiose art form. Metz, a European cultural capital? There's no doubt about it...