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Origin and history

The Metz courthouse, located in the Metz Centre district, was originally designed to house the residence of the Royal Military Governor and the intendants of the province of the Three Bishops. This project is part of a desire for urban planning inspired by the Enlightenment, carried by Marshal Charles Louis Auguste Fouquet de Belle-Isle from 1728. The objective was to modernize Metz by creating a central royal square surrounded by public buildings, including a theatre and a new town hall entrusted to architect Jacques-François Blondel. This ambitious context led, in 1777, to the command of the plans of the government hotel – the future courthouse – to architect Charles-Louis Clérisseau.

Construction of the building, ordered by the king to house the military governor, began in 1776 near the citadel. The works, interrupted by the Revolution in 1791, left the façade on the street side of Judge Michel unfinished, while sculptures and bas-reliefs were destroyed during the riots. Despite this, the building was completed under the Revolution and converted into the headquarters of the departmental administration and then into a revolutionary court. In 1812, under the Empire, he officially became a courthouse, a function he still retains today.

The palace architecture, organized in U around an inner courtyard, combines military symbols and allegories. The Jaumont stone facades, decorated with bas-reliefs, evoke historical episodes such as the siege of Metz in 1552 or the departure of La Fayette for the Americas. The monumental portal, surmounted by a sculpture depicting France looking after its children, is framed by trophies and allegorical figures, including Hercules for strength and Minerve for military science. Ranked a historic monument in 1921 for its facades and roofs, then in 1929 for its vestibule, the palace embodies both the judiciary and the architectural heritage of the Enlightenment.

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