Lorraine was
not always part of France. When, in the 9th century, Charlemagne
divided his empire into three parts, Lorraine, like today's Luxembourg,
Holland and Belgium, was part of the middle Empire, between France in
the west and Germany in the east. This middle section of the
Carolingian empire was bequeathed to Charlemagne's son Lothair, and was
thus known as Lotharingia, which has given the modern name Lorraine.
Lorraine has always been on the dividing
line between the French speaking lands of the west and the
German-speaking lands of the east. In bygone centuries, Germanic
tongues were spoken in much of the region, as is witnessed by the many
Germanic place names in the region, such as Metz, Forbach, or
Freyming-Merlebach. The north of the region borders on the Saar region
of Germany, and on Luxembourg. French has nevertheless been the main
language for many centuries.
The Lorraine region consists of four
departments,
Meurthe-et-Moselle
(54),
Meuse
(55),
Moselle
(57), and
Vosges
(88). It is the only French region to border on three different foreign
countries – Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany: it also borders on three
other French regions,
Alsace
to the east,
Champagne-Ardenne
to the west, and
Franche-Comté
to the south.
Until the late twentieth century,
Lorraine was known as an industrial region, part of a large European
industrial heartland stretching over north-east France, Belgium,
Luxembourg and the west of Germany. The region was home to a lot of
heavy industry, notably coal, iron and steel, concentrated in
particular in the departments of Meurthe et Moselle and Moselle. Cities
such as Pont-à-Mousson, Thionville or Forbach were major centres in the
industrial age. With the decline of rustbelt industries in France,
Lorraine went through major economic and social upheavals. While the
iron and steel industry remains the regions biggest industrial
employer, most of the old smokestack industries have been
modernised or replaced by high-tech plants, such as the Mercedes-owned
Smart production line in Hambach, opened in 1997.
Unlike other French
regions, Lorraine, though a historic region, does not have a single
natural capital; the region's two major cities, Metz and Nancy, are of
similar size (each with an urban area of around 420,000 inhabitants),
and have both been regional capital at times in history.
Today's capital is
Metz, préfecture of
the Moselle department, and one of the oldest cities in France. It was
in Metz that the Carolingian dynasty first came to power, and from the
tenth to the seventeenth century, Metz was a city of the (Germanic)
Holy Roman Empire, only becoming French on the signing of the Treaty of
Westphalia in 1648.
Nancy, by contrast,
is a much more recent city. Developing in the Middle Ages, it blossomed
into a major regional city in the eighteenth century, as capital of the
new French duchy of Lorraine. It was Stanislas, deposed king of Poland,
to whom the duchy was given in 1737, who developed the great
neo-classical city with its magnificent central square named in his
honour.
Outside of the
industrial areas, and particularly in the west and south of the region,
the departments of the Meuse and the Vosges, Lorraine is a rural
region, with hills and forests. The department of the Vosges, which
includes the western part of the Vosges mountains, is heavily forested.
Epinal, the capital, is a small town in the high valley of the Moselle.
Some of
the main tourist attractions and sites in Lorraine
 Old
Metz, with St Etienne's Cathedral
Nancy, Porte Héré from Plazce Stanislas.
Photo Alecs.y
Photos Creative commons
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- Nancy
(54) : Place Stanislas, one of the finest city squares in
France, a UNESCO World Heritage site, with two other 18th century
squares. Porte de la Craffe (14th Century) and other remains of the
mediaeval city
-
Verdun (55): The Memorial is a museum devoted to the
battle that lasted almost a year, taking 300,000 French lives.
- Malbrouk
(57). right on the border with Germany, this castle owes
its name to the duke of Marlborough, who used it as his headquarters in
1705.
- Metz
(57) Cathedral St. Etienne, gothic cathedral with fine
stained glass: Eglise St. Pierre aux Nonnains, supposedly the oldest
church in France. Musées de la Cour d'or. Place St Louis (14th
Century), renaissance and medieval architecture in the old city.
- Metz
(57) Opened May 12th 2010. Centre Pompidou Metz.
New museum of modern and contemporary art, a satellite of the famous
Paris museum. One of Europe's major museums of modern art, providing
extra display space for the Paris collection.
- Neufchef
(57) Mineral mining museum; take an underground trip with
a former miners in this industrial museum
- Petite
Rosselle (57) La Mine, Musée Carreau Wendel. Opened in
2006, an exceptional coal mining museum, with a visit into the "bowels
of the earth". the visit lasts 2 hours.
- Sarrebourg
(57) East of the town, in the Vosges hills, the
Abreschviller Forest steam railway. 12 km trip.
- Vekring
(57) Ouvrage du Hackenberg, part of France's Maginot Line
defences in the First World War.
- Vosges
mountains (57, 88) Hiking, mountain biking,
nature, skiing in winter.
- La
Bresse-Hohneck (88) : the biggest ski area in north east
France. 21 km of pistes, 21ski lifts. Altitude 900 to 1350 m.
- Gerardmer
(88) Mountain resort in the Vosges, famous for its lake
and natural environment.
- Jeanménil:
(88) Fraipertuis-city. Wild-west theme park, in the
forests of the Vosges.
And
nearby:
- Luxembourg:
One of Europe's smallest
states. Historic capital city, offices of the European Union.
- Trier
(Trèves): old German city on the Moselle, with impressive
romanesque basilica and other historic monuments.
- The
Moselle valley in Germany, with its terraced vineyards and
famous wines.
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