Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The guard corps of Metz, located in Place d'Armes, was designed by the architect Jacques-François Blondel at the same time as the town hall, in a neoclassical French style. Built in Jaumont stone between 1761 and 1771, it has a two-storey facade: a ground floor with seven arches in the middle of the hangar and a noble floor decorated with seven French windows. Its forebody, surmounted by a carved pediment, represents a trophy of weapons composed of a breastplate, a panache helmet and a beam of weapons (draples, spears, cannons).

This monument is part of a larger urban project initiated by Marshal Charles Louis Auguste Fouquet de Belle-Isle, inspired by the ideas of the Enlightenment. From 1728, the latter undertook to modernize Metz by creating a central royal square near the cathedral, surrounded by public buildings. After two decades of negotiations with the local clergy and bourgeois, Blondel was responsible for creating the town hall and its annexes, including the guard corps, to house the soldiers watching the square.

Over the centuries, the building has experienced several assignments: savings bank in the 20th century, then district hotel, before hosting the municipal tourism office. Its facade and cover, classified as historical monuments since 1921, were restored in 2007 to erase the traces of pollution. The weapons trophy and neoclassical architecture bear witness to its original military role, while its location in front of the former Parliament underlines its importance in the city planning of the eighteenth century Messin.

Future

The building now houses the City's tourist office.

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