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Returning to your roots always brings a surprise or two but after several decades, Metz surpassed all expectations. Gone was the city struggling to come to terms with a troubled past, here was a modern metropolis, looking confidently to a renewed vocation at the crossroads of Europe. It would have delighted that visionary founder of the EU, Robert Schuman, who started his political life on the local council. Keen to grasp every opportunity, the city has joined Luxemburg, Sarrebrücken and Trier to form the QuattroPole, a four city association intent on cooperation and joint ventures, and is twinned with Gloucester, another cathedral city in border lands. Metz was the first town in France to set up an internet site and a vast ‘Technopôle’ complex, the first of its kind in Europe, devoted to communication and information technology.

The arrival of the TGV Est in June brought a huge wave of excitement, linking the town to European partners and to Paris in just 1 hour 22 minutes. Now in a city thriving on culture and modern art, all eyes are set on the next venture, the Centre Pompidou-Metz, offshoot of the famous cultural venue in Paris, due to hold its first exhibitions in 2009, in an innovative building worth a visit in its own right.

3000 years of history

In this vibrant capital of Lorraine, nestling at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille, the first settlement dates back to the Bronze Age and the funeral urns discovered on the hill of Sainte Croix. Later came the Médiomatrics, a Celtic tribe after which the town is named, followed by the Roman era when the city flourished until the Barbarian invasions.

Resilient as ever, Metz recovered to become capital of the Austrasia Kingdom. From the home-grown Carolingian dynasty to integration in the Holy Roman Empire and Free City status, Metz enjoyed a golden age throughout the Middle-Ages, thriving on trade and finance, even lending money to dukes and kings, while nurturing the arts, with a fast growing reputation for illuminated manuscripts, calligraphy and Gregorian chant.

This proved too much for envious neighbours. By the mid 16th-century, the three bishoprics of Metz and its associates, Toul and Verdun, had been placed under French ‘protection’, almost 200 years before the Duchy of Lorraine became part of France. Yet the city’s tribulations were far from over. In 1871, during the Franco-Prussian war, French troops surrendered the town to the dismay of the local people. Metz was annexed until 1918 and again from 1940 to 1944.

Heritage to match

Everyone agrees with Monsieur le Maire, now in his 36th year of office, the best way to preserve such rich heritage is to breathe new life into the old stones. And with a few strokes of the magic wand and decades of hard work, abandoned grain stores, chapels and cloisters were restored and turned into glamorous cultural venues, among them the Trinitaires, St Genest, Chèvremont attached to the Cour d’Or, once the fabulous residence of the Austrasian kings, now a museum filled with local treasures. Alongside the Templars’ chapel and St Pierre-aux-Nonnains, the country’s oldest church, the 19th-century Arsenal reopened, namely as a concert hall hosting the National Orchestra of Lorraine, the Récollet cloister, acclaimed for its garden of medicinal plants, became conference centre and seat of the European Institute of Ecology while in the stark food stores of the old citadel, you will find the city’s most exclusive hotel.

But the heart of the old town continues to beat, almost undisturbed, around St Stephen’s cathedral, a Gothic masterpiece of honey-coloured stone, graced by a 42 metre high nave and more stained glass than any other church in France, so the Messins call it ‘the Lantern of God’. All around, tangled lanes meander past traces of medieval shops, tumbling down to the river or heading for Place St Louis where money-changers from Lombardy gathered under the arcades to count their cash.

They brought the first hints of the Italian architecture which in the 18th century, would embellish the Quartier des Iles, under the auspices of Belle-Isles, the military governor. Just across the river from the medieval city, Place de la Comédie is a spacious classical ensemble, comprising the Préfecture and the oldest working Theatre in France, all in the lovely Jaumont stone which glows ochre and gold whatever the weather. The Place d’Armes and the Court House date from the same period.

Gallo-Roman or medieval, French or Italian, once the most fortified town in Europe, Metz never ceases to surprise but as you reach Place Mondon, you enter yet another world, the legacy of Wilhelm II and 47 years of German occupation. Today the people of Metz are proud to show you their Imperial City, the massive façades along Avenue Foch, the sculptures over the doorways, the Art Nouveau, the Governor’s Palace, the Post Office built in pink sandstone from the Vosges mountains. But the crowning glory is the 300 metre long railway station, designed to look like a cathedral, with amazing carvings, imperial apartments, indoor space for reviewing troops in poor weather and a water tower straight out of a fairytale to feed the steam engines. On one side of the track is a low platform where horses would alight, on the other, a higher one for the emperor and his suite.

The Venice of Lorraine

Lapped the Moselle winding around a sprinkling of islands right at the heart of town, the playful Seille skirting the eastern edge and the Jouy Canal to the south west, Metz is truly a city on water. Flower-draped bridges mingle their reflections alongside ancient mills, wash-houses and myriad churches. In the Quartier St Marcel, pastel-coloured flats dip their toes in the water crisscrossed by footbridges and you could almost row to your front door. Add the golden light, the flowering trees lining the banks and when the sun shines, you almost feel in southern climes. Water rushes over the weir just steps from the Comédie, swans glide under the old bridge and in the Lovers’ Garden at the tip of the island, the New Temple claims the city’s most delightful snapshot.

Metz has moved in giant strides but developments are always sensitive and natural assets are no exception, carefully managed to add quality of life. Along the 35 km of waterside trails, the Messins can enjoy lungfuls of fresh air every day of the week. Going south, you stroll past the formal Jardins de l’Esplanade, the Plan d’Eau with its marina and water sports, the Montigny Botanical Gardens and the Jouy Canal where moorhens nest in the reeds and houseboats doze in the shade. To the north, the trail follows the old fortifications to the confluence of the Seille guarded by the Devil’s Tower and beyond, to the massive gate, named ‘Porte des Allemands’ after Teutonic knights. Trails are well marked and of varying lengths.

Shared by nature and sports lovers, the latest addition, the ecologically designed Parc de la Seille, has over 2000 trees, traditional crops, cycle tracks, lawns, lagoon, island and reeds where herons fish in the shallows. It’s even open at night when illuminations are magical.

Art de vive

Is it the parks, the waterways, the shaded squares? Metz never seems in a hurry, enjoying life al fresco on the river banks or the lively Place St Jacques where café-terrace open their parasols as soon as the sun peeps over the rooftops. Shoppers head for the rue des Clercs or Serpenoise but among the many pleasures of local life, food holds pride of place, with good reason. Rabelais, the great 16th century epicurean and author of Pantagruel, lived here for two years, long enough to place his house on the must-see list and create a Rabelais trail (Tables de Rabelais) which brings together restaurants and producers of the finest local fare.

Make your way to the covered market and Patrick’s Bar à Soupe or ‘Chez Mauricette’ for pâté and saucisson then choose your venue and enjoy a genuine Quiche Lorraine or a potée (hearty stew), served with bacon and dandelion salad and wine from Château de Vaux. For dessert, try mirabelle plum tart, unless you prefer the liqueur or fresh fruit in season.

The sweet golden mirabelles are the hallmark of Lorraine, yielding 70% of world production and celebrated in Metz with their own festival, all fireworks, music and dance and floats snaking through the streets, just one of the city’s colourful attractions, from Christmas markets and St Nicolas parade to flea markets (second largest in France), antique fair or the September hot air balloon rally, honouring the first pilot, Pilâtre de Rozier, born in Metz.

Meanwhile, in a ‘city in bloom’ claiming national and European awards, visitors marvel at the fabulous floral carpet which is laid out every summer on a different square. This year, the ‘tapis de fleurs’ was in front of the station to welcome the new TGV and the promise of an ever brighter future for the relaxed but dynamic capital of Lorraine.

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