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Origin and history

The Collège Saint-Sauveur de Metz, mentioned in 882, was originally built by Bishop Wala as a church or chapel on the edge of the forum. She became a collegiate under the episcopate of Adalberon III (1047-1072), where she installed a chapter of canons and undertook expansion work. The 11th and 12th centuries charters confirm its religious role and its links with the churches of St James and St Mary, as well as the burial of Adalberon III on the spot. The property of the chapter, insufficient for its maintenance, was supplemented by donations, but its management remained difficult, leading to a reduction in the number of canons in 1154 and 1565.

In 1565, the college was partially destroyed by military order for strategic reasons related to the citadel of Metz. Only a chapel of the cloister, transformed into a church, remained until the 18th century. Despite attempts to expand the Place Saint-Jacques in 1738 and 1750, the chapter resisted total demolition. The French Revolution accelerated its disappearance: the church was sold as a national property in 1800, and its remains, including the 15th century capitular hall (marked by the weapons of Pope Pius II), were gradually demolished or reused, until their final destruction during the Second World War.

The only remaining elements, listed as historical monuments in 1929, are remains of the cloister and the capitular hall. These remains, located at 6 rue du Petit-Paris, testify to the late Gothic architecture of the college. Their history reflects the tensions between religious, military and urban power, as well as the revolutionary and modern upheavals that marked Metz. Archaeological and historical sources, such as the bulletins of the Moselle Archaeology Society, document their evolution from the Middle Ages to their almost total disappearance.

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