13. Conflans-en-Jarnisy to Metz

Church formed by a primary ogival style choir from the 13th century and a central nave belonging to the tertiary ogival period at the end of the 15th century, enlarged in 1765. The fortified bell tower is said to be one of the elements of the urban enclosure. Mural paintings, statuary. Restoration work in 2005 by the Municipality has restored all its character to this beautiful building. The restoration of 1962 led to the discovery of frescoes, that of 2005 a door of the dead, an old niche... Listed in the Supplementary Inventory of Historic Monuments since 1982. Since the renovation in 2005, guided tours have taken place every year on the occasion of the Heritage Days.

After passing the hamlet of Chantereine you will come across a monument in honour of the 36 soldiers of the 9th Lauenburg Chasseurs Battalion (Prussian Army) killed there.

Vernéville depended on the old Val de Metz in the Middle Ages. Its lordship owned a fortified castle, fiefdom of the bishopric of Metz. The seigneury of Vernéville belonged to the de Roucel family in the 16th and 17th centuries. The seigniory was acquired at the beginning of the 18th century by members of parliament from Metz, Claude-François Jobal and François Huyn, lord of Montigny la Grange, whose son François-Louis-Paul Huyn, through his marriage in 1735 to Anne-Françoise de Jobal, reunited the entire seigniory in his hands. The Huyn de Vernéville family kept the property until the First World War. The castle was sold in co-ownership. Private property, the castle cannot be visited.
The Saint-Eloi church was built at the end of the 19th century.

The 13th century bell tower imposes a first impression of massiveness. The choir is from the 15th century. The nave was rebuilt at the end of the 18th century. Observe the sundials on the bell tower.
The village, which dominates the Moselle valley, is very well exposed for the cultivation of vines, which has faded away in favour of real estate.

Before arriving in Châtel-Saint-Germain you walked along a hill which was a strategic place to watch over the valley and the road from Metz to Paris. The site has been continuously occupied since the Neolithic period. Unfortunately very few remains are visible, except for the walls of the castle built in the 13th century by the bishop of Metz, with a beautiful view towards the Moselle valley.
The church of Saint-Germain in the centre of the city dates from the 18th century and replaces an older building.

The Via Columbani passes in front of the Robert Schuman European Centre in Scy-Chazelles.
It was in his home town that, during a weekend in April 1950, Robert Schuman, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, had the audacity to devise a "daring act" that would change the course of history. Together with other European statesmen, this great visionary created the conditions for lasting peace in Europe.
In July 1950, he organised a secret meeting with diplomats from different countries in Europe in Luxeuil-les-Bains. The official reason for this meeting on 21-22-23 July 1950 was to inaugurate the new statue of Saint Colomban, made by Claude Grange in 1935 and cast in 1947.
In his speech, in front of the abbey founded by Saint Colomban, Robert Schuman declared that Saint Colomban is the father of Europe through his writings and his message of unity under the banner of Christ.
Enter Robert Schuman's house and visit the museum to discover the work of this great visionary to prevent a new war in Europe.
Centre européen Robert Schuman

Originally it was part of a group of rooms connected by galleries reused from buildings of the Gallo-Roman period. The church of Saint-Pierre-aux-Nonnains was built between the end of the 4th century and the beginning of the 5th century probably in the civil basilica.
In 451, like many buildings in Messin, the complex was devastated by the Huns. It was left abandoned and then became a Benedictine abbey around 620.
In the 10th century, thanks to the donations of Emperor Otto, the church underwent important modifications, with the division of the nave into three vessels and the creation of a avant-nef (narthex). In one of the aisles we can still see a layout from the Ottonian period.
In the 15th century, the building was redesigned and a Gothic vault was created with a cross vault. The spiritual use of the building ceased in 1556 and it became a military storehouse. Today it is a place for cultural exhibitions.

The first historical traces date back to the 6th century. In 717, it took the name of Saint-Arnoul, because of the relics of Arnoul de Metz, bishop of Metz in the 7th century, deposited in 641.
Charlemagne made this abbey the necropolis of part of his family: his wife Hildegarde, his sisters, his sons, the Emperor Louis the Pious and Bishop Drogon of Metz, Charlemagne's natural son and abbot of Luxeuil from 833 to 855, were buried there.
The abbey was destroyed by invasions in the 9th century and rebuilt in the 10th century. In the 11th century, relics of Gorgon, a 4th century Roman martyr, were transferred to the abbey.
The siege of Metz by Charles V in 1552 led to the destruction of the abbey. It was transferred, together with the imperial tombs, inside the ramparts to the Dominican Convent of Preachers, built in 1221, a convent which, with the exception of the church, was rebuilt in the 17th century. Today you can see these buildings, especially the cloister, the old refectory and the old sacristy, which are part of a military complex that cannot be visited.
More info at: Wikipedia

Saint-Etienne's Cathedral is an imposing and majestic building, both by its dimensions, by its numerous monumental sculptures, by the importance of its glass roofs and by its golden lustre, due to the Jaumont stone.
It was built from 1220 under the impetus of the bishop of Metz Conrad de Scharfenberg. Its location is not due to chance since two religious buildings have successively preceded it. The first of them, an oratory, already existed at the time of the sacking of the city by the Huns in 451. Saint Colomban, during his stay in Metz with King Théodebert, probably prayed in this oratory near the royal palace.
The monument actually comprises two buildings: the cathedral and the collegiate church of Notre-Dame-la-Ronde, built around 1186 and redesigned to fit into the ensemble. The two towers of the cathedral mark the junction between these two churches. The Portal of the Virgin, the present entrance to the cathedral, was one of the portals of Notre-Dame-la-Ronde.
The imposing cathedral was not completed until three centuries later, in 1552, due to financial and political difficulties which led to the interruption of the construction work.
Metz Cathedral is an exceptional building and represents a "culmination of Gothic art", according to one of its many architects.
More information: Wikipedia