1. The current Metz station should not have been born
There was already a station in Metz, before this one. It is King George Square. It is doomed to become the headquarters of INSEE in Moselle. Magnificent with its glass roof, it had a handicap: it was a cul-de-sac. However, in Tours, or Orléans, that is still not a problem. But in Metz, for Emperor William II, yes. Hence its ambition to create a new station, with entrances and exits.
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2. The good fairies bent over her cradle
The new station was built between 1904 and 1908 by the greatest architect of the Reich of the time: Jürgen Kröger. It has magnificent salons desired by the emperor, for his personal use. Its large Charlemagne stained glass window always dazzles, the sculpted bas-reliefs are unique.
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3. We hated her, like Cinderella
After 1918, the French “of the interior” stationed in Metz, the passing soldiers, the journalists, the Parisians, all have but one word: it is ugly. “Kolossale”, Prussian, contrary to French aesthetics. Until the 1970s, this state of mind will continue. Since then, as in a fairy tale, it has been rediscovered.
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4. It still remains outside the norm
By 1905, the Germans had envisioned a city of 110,000 inhabitants, with many barracks. The station remains disproportionate for the current size of the city, with its 300 meters long, its 60 m wide, its 17 parallel tracks. Better: it is calibrated to make it possible to manage a flow in time of war, with soldiers and horses.
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5. She gave birth to an entire neighborhood
Without it, there is no need to build the Imperial Quarter. Without it, no rue Gambetta with its arcades, no Grande Poste, no redevelopment of Sablon-Nord, along rue Aux-Arènes. Without it, a significant part of today’s city does not exist. Well worth a vote, right?
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