General Notes

OCCU Count of MetzMetz ,city,  capital of the Moselle dpartement, Lorraine rgion,northeastern France, at theconfluence of the Moselle and Seille rivers, northwest ofStrasbourg and south of
theLuxembourg frontier. It was partly rebuilt and its suburbsconsiderably extended after WorldWar II.Metz derives its name from the Mediomatrici, a Gallic tribe whomade it their capital. It
wasfortified by the Romans. In the 3rd century it was evangelized,and it became a bishopric inthe 4th century. After being plundered by the Huns in the 5thcentury, the city passed underFrankish
domination. In 843, at the partition of the CarolingianEmpire, Metz became thecapital of Lorraine. During the Middle Ages, the city was a freetown within the Holy RomanEmpire and grew prosperous.
After the Reformation in the 16thcentury, when Metz becameProtestant and was in danger of being subjected to persecution,Henry II of France (reigned1547-59), though a Roman Catholic, offered to
defend it,successfully withstanding a siegeby Charles V, the Holy Roman emperor, in 1552. The Frenchcontinued to occupy the town;and in 1648, at the Peace of Westphalia, it was ceded to Francewith
Toul and Verdun.During the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian War the French troopsretreated into Metz after anindecisive battle. The Germans besieged the town, and 54 dayslater the French were forcedto
capitulate. Metz was returned to France after World War I.During World War II it wasoccupied by the Germans and in 1944 was liberated only after along battle.Metz has pleasant promenades along the
banks of the MoselleRiver, which divides intoseveral arms as it flows through the city. The Gothic cathedralof Saint-tienne was originallyformed when two 12th-century churches were joined into a
singleedifice. The transept andthe nave, one of the highest of French Gothic churches, havehuge pointed windows. Thetwo towers were begun in the 13th century. The cathedral hasremarkable 13th-
and14th-century stained-glass windows, as well as contemporary onesby the painters MarcChagall and Jacques Villon. The old city gate, the Porte desAllemands (Gate of theGermans), built in the 13th
and 15th centuries, which was partlydestroyed during WorldWar II, has imposing crenellated towers. The museum has acollection of Gallo-Romanantiquities, which are exhibited in the vestiges of Roman
bathsdiscovered in 1935.Metz, a railway junction on the Nancy-Luxembourg line, is alsothe centre of a complex roadand motorway network and is located in a commanding position onthe canalized
Moselle. Itis also near the Lorraine iron-mining basin and near the Mosellecoal mines. The manufactureof automobile, electrical, and mechanical equipment and of foodproducts (brewing, cannedfoods)
and the processing of tobacco are among the mainindustries. The University of Metzwas founded in 1971. Pop. (1990) 123,920.Copyright (c) 1996 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. All RightsReserved
DATE 10 JAN 1999