SAINT-ÉTIENNE COLLEGE
After having fortified, around 1245, the summit of the hill of Hombourg with an imposing castle, the bishop of Metz Jacques de Lorraine founded in this place, in 1254, a chapter of canons, for which he ordered the construction of a large and beautiful church dedicated to Saint-Etienne and the Virgin. The church occupies a commanding position at the top of the rocky promontory, from where it is visible from almost all sides. Sensibly oriented East-West, it is located in the extension of the town which developed at its feet. In a Gothic style from the 13th and 14th centuries (it was started at the end of the 1400th century and completed around 1632), the church has a fairly massive and squat appearance. The building is built of pink-ochre sandstone with a beautiful regular structure, except for the north transept which is covered with a coating. It burned in 1789 but escaped the ravages of the Thirty Years' War and the Revolution of 1930. Symbol of the city, the church was classified as a Historic Monument in XNUMX.
