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Origin and history

The Place d'Armes de Metz is a rectangular paved square designed in the 18th century under the impulse of the Marchaux Belle-Isle and d'Estrées, according to the plans of architect Jacques-François Blondel. It embodies a major urban development designed to centralize civil, religious and military powers around a unified space. Located between St Stephen's Cathedral and the City Hall, it replaces ancient medieval churches and a destroyed cloister to create this monumental ensemble.

Originally, the site housed in the Middle Ages a cloister and several churches, including Saint-Gorgon, Saint-Pierre-le-Vieux and Saint-Paul, as well as the palace of the Bishopric, separated from the cathedral by a courtyard. The initial small square, in front of the Virgin's gate, was radically transformed from 1754 on the orders of Governor Belle-Isle, in response to Louis XV's desire to create a place bringing together all the powers. The destruction included the churches, the cloister, and the palace of the Thirteen, while the Town Hall, completed in 1788, became the administrative heart of the city.

The square has known several denominations throughout the political regimes: place of the Law in 1792 during the Revolution, place Napoleon in 1806, then Paradeplatz during the German annexations (1871-1918 and 1940-1944). Under the occupation, it served as a framework for Nazi military parades, such as the Gauleiter Bürckel parade in 1940. After the Liberation, she regained her symbolic role, welcoming ceremonies like the one honouring General Walker. Its classic architecture, sober and powerful, reflects the military vocation of Metz in the eighteenth century, reinforced by martial trophies and an aesthetic unit originally planned to house the royal parliament.

The remarkable buildings include the Town Hall, longest building of the plan of Blondel, facing the Gothic cathedral whose low arcades were demolished in the 19th century by Bishop Paul Dupont des Loges to clear the facade. The portal of the Collège Notre-Dame-la-Ronde, restored in 1885, and the old guard corps (now tourist office) complete this set. The square, classified as a Historic Monument in 1948 for its soil, was restored in 1974 and 2007, preserving its role as a gathering place and urban celebrations.

Its history reflects the tensions between ecclesiastical, bourgeois and royal powers: Metz, governed by his bishops until 1179, became an oligarchic republic before passing under French domination in 1552 via the Treaty of Chambord. The square, conceived as a symbol of royal authority, also embodies the political changes of the city, from imperial parades to commemorations of liberation.

Future

Today the square is the scene of festive events and symbolic population gatherings in the very heart of the city.

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