About Metz Cathedral (La Cathedrale de Saint Etienne) in Metz, France:
Metz Cathedral has the third-highest nave of cathedrals in France (135.9 feet, 41.41 meters). The cathedral was built on an ancient site dating to the 5th century and dedicated to Saint Stephen (Saint Etienne, as you may know, translates to Saint Stephen). La Cathedrale de Saint Etienne was said to have contained a collection of his relics.
This was the sole structure spared during the sack of the city by Attila’s Huns in 451 AD. Attila had attempted to conquer Roman Gaul (modern France), crossing the Rhine in 451 AD and marching as far as Aurelianum (Orléans), before being stopped in the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains.
Metz was a royal residence of the grandsons of Clovis, king of the Franks, and of Theudebert I, who became the Merovingian ruler in 534. Gregory of Tours mentioned the existence of the church in 584, and a cathedral under the archbishop Arnoul is mentioned in 616. The Archbishop and Saint Chrodegang (742–766) is mentioned in accounts of the time as a papal envoy to the Franks. He is credited with introducing the Roman liturgy and chants, with the support of King of the Franks, Pepin, between 751 and 768. Chrodegang is also credited with establishing the first cathedral chapter in western Europe, and also the first cathedral close, combining chapels, dormitory, refectory, and other functional buildings. This system was formally adopted by other Frankish cathedrals under the Capitulary of Aix-en-Chapelle of 816.
The construction of a new cathedral began under bishop Thierry I between 965 and 984, and was completed under his second successor, Thierry II of Luxembourg, between 1006 and 1047. It was built in what was later called Ottonian style, a form of pre-Romanesque. This church had two towers and three bays on the west front, a nave with three vessels, and a larger tower over the transept. Because of its placement on a terrace next to the Moselle River, the cathedral could not have the traditional east to west orientation from the choir to the west front. Instead, it was oriented on an axis from southeast to northwest. The roof, following a regional tradition, was covered with tiles of white limestone.
A smaller church, the Collegiale of Notre-Dame-la-Ronde, was built close to the old cathedral in the 8th century, and was entirely rebuilt between 1200 and 1207 to be oriented directly with the axis of the cathedral. The complex of early buildings also included the cloister and a palace for the archbishop, where the market square is located today.
Traveling Metz Cathedral (La Cathedrale de Saint Etienne) in Metz, France:
Address:
10-12 place Saint-Étienne
57000 Metz, France
Tél: +33 03 87 36 08 27
Email: udap.moselle@culture.gouv.fr
Visit the official website of Metz Cathedral (La Cathedrale de Saint Etienne) in Metz, France.
Check out the video on the Cathedrals’ website.