Église Sainte-Ségolène de Metz, church located in Moselle, in France
Église Sainte-Ségolène de Metz is a church building in the Gothic style located on the Sainte-Croix hill in the old part of the city. The main body was built around 1250 with stones from nearby Jaumont and features pointed arches, tall narrow windows, and stone carvings, with the interior space later expanded during renovations.
A small chapel was built here around 800 to 830 and is documented in records from 912. Around 1250, a larger Gothic church replaced it to serve the growing population, and the original crypt beneath the choir and several early structures remain visible today.
The church is the only one in Metz dedicated to a woman, Saint Ségolène, whose feast is celebrated on 24 July. Her cult spread from Albi to Metz, possibly through links between the bishops of Metz and southern France. The square in front, Place Jeanne d'Arc, is named after Joan of Arc, and a fountain stands there.
The church stands on the Sainte-Croix hill, the highest point of Metz's old town, between the Moselle and Seille. The square in front, Place Jeanne d'Arc, was laid out in 1905 to improve access and space before the facade. The main entrance is through the three neo-Gothic portals of the west front.
The medieval church was decorated with stained glass and frescoes, including a cycle on the legend of the Three Living and the Three Dead. These frescoes were rediscovered in 1850 but destroyed during Conrad Wahn's neo-Gothic rebuilding of 1896-1898. The 19th-century choir windows were made in 1855 by the glass painter Laurent-Charles Maréchal.
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