Place d'Armes
Place d'Armes, 57000 Metz
From 1744, during the coming of Louis XV in Metz, the marshal de Belle-Isle feels(smells) the necessity of endowing Metz of a central place(square) in the area around the cathedral Saint-Étienne, so that the military troops could spread(display) there with ease. In 1754, the marshal of Belle-Isle orders that the different buildings(ships), chapels, cloisters and churches, canonical houses, are shaved and that the space is levelled. In his death in 1761, the marshal of Estrées confides(entrusts) to the famous architect Jacques-François Blondel the renovation of the place(square).
This rectangular place(square) of 125 metres long and of 50 metres wide, celebrates the power of Louis XV by four buildings(ships) built in classic style. Next to the cathedral Saint-Étienne, symbol of religious power, Blondel draws the Town hall, symbol of local power, guardroom, current Tourist office, expression of military power and finally Parliament, representative of judicial power. To unify the style of the place(square), Blondel adds a gallery to the cathedral at a level of arcades, as well as a classic portal(gate) with a thanksgiving plaque of the healing of Louis XV in Metz. Three buildings which he(it) conceives(designs) for this place(square) are emblematic of theories which he(it) enunciates in his(its) "course(price) of architecture": "Male architecture stands out. The one who is simple in her general, wise composition in her forms, and not much loaded(charged) with details in her ornaments, the one who announces in straight plans".
The two-coloured pavements are arranged in St Andrew's cross. Two military trophies executed in 1767 by Pierre-François Le Roy rise near(on the side of) the Parliament. The bronze statue of the marshal Fabert (1599-1662) was at the origin placed between these two trophies. Œuvre of the sculptor Antoine Etex, tribute to the big(great) serviceman messin whose devotion to the king was legendary.
Tags
Monument historique & Villes et Pays d'art et d'histoire
©Rodolphe Lebois