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)
Opening 2010. Centre Pompidou Metz. New museum of modern and
contemporary art, a satellite of the famous Paris museum.
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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