INTERIOR OF METZ CATHEDRAL
The ground was excavated to a depth of some eight or nine feet, and the architect (J. B. Blondel) was instructed to prepare plans on a grand scale.
This was done between 1761 and 1764, after which the work was at once put in hand, and completed in 1771. While endeavouring to respect the old building, Blondel sought, not so much to build the portal in the style of the Cathedral, as to erect an independent portal in front of the church. Its irregular lines contrast with the general style of the Cathedral.
In 1791, the rood-loft, old altars and vaults were removed, in accordance with the plans of Gardeur Lebrun. The roof, destroyed by fire on the night of May 6, 1877—the day Emperor Wilhelm I. entered Metz—was replaced in 1880-1882 by a copper roof several yards higher than the original.
Lastly, the Doric projection of the main front was pulled down in 1903 to make room for a portal planned in the style of the rest of the church. Statues of the prophets were carved at the corners, one of which—that of the prophet Daniel—is a likeness of the ex-Emperor of Germany, Wilhelm II. The people of Metz would not have the ex-Kaiser-prophet take part in the entry of the French, and during the night bound his hands with a chain attached to which was a board bearing the inscription, “Sic transit Gloria Mundi” (thus passes away man’s glory) (photo above).
