Metz-Ville train station
| Gare de Metz-Ville | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Data | |
| Location in the network | Junction station |
| Platform tracks | 9 |
| IBNR | 8700019 |
| Profile on SNCF.fr | Code: frade |
| location | |
| City / municipality | Metz |
| Department | Moselle department |
| region | Grand Est |
| Country | France |
| Coordinates | 49 ° 6 '35 " N , 6 ° 10' 39" E |
| Railway lines | |
|
|
| List of train stations in France | |
The Metz-Ville train station (French Gare de Metz-Ville , in German also called “Metz Hauptbahnhof ”) is the train station of the French city of Metz in the Moselle department .
history
The Metz train station, built between 1905 and 1908, was designed by the Berlin architect Jürgen Kröger in a neo-Romanesque - Wilhelmine - style. It has a huge and representative main building with 300 meter long platform roofs.
Until it was built at its current location, Metz train station was about 300 meters to the west. A provisional station building was built there in 1850 and then a half-timbered station in 1853 . After it fell victim to a fire on July 28, 1872, a new station designed by Johann Eduard Jacobsthal was built by 1878 . Its building, located on Place du roi Georges , now houses the SNCF regional headquarters . With the opening of the new through station instead of the old terminus in 1908, the railway network in the Metz area was restructured. Several new lines were created, including a new connection towards Luxembourg and the completely new line to Anzeling, two of which reached the new Metz train station from the north.
The decision of the military authorities to build a new station building in the realm of Alsace-Lorraine almost thirty years after the first station was built was based on military strategy , regardless of its economic or civil transport significance in times of peace. The new station allowed continuous rail traffic in north-south direction along the French border, which could be served both from the north by the Kanonenbahn ( Berlin - Wetzlar - Trier - Thionville (Diedenhofen) ) and from the south in the direction of Saarbrücken . In the east-west direction, on the other hand, all trains, provided they stop at the Metz train station and are not directed past the city, have to change direction .
The station of Metz was on 15 January 1975 monument made and as Monument historique classified. In 2007, the city of Metz applied to UNESCO for the station district to be included in the UNESCO World Heritage list as a whole .
architecture
.jpg)
The buildings are made of gray-yellow Vosges sandstone and are mainly characterized by the character of their sculptures. The choice of this Vosges sandstone should symbolize a break with the Pierre de Jaumont ( oolithic limestone ) of old Metz. The architectural competition, which was carried out only with Reich German, i.e. without French participation, was won by the Berlin architect Kröger. Peter Jürgensen and Jürgen Bachmann assisted him with the planning . In addition, Kaiser Wilhelm II also had an influence on the details, especially the appearance of the tower. The dimensions of the station with its 300 m long hall are enormous and tailored to its military function. The fortress of Metz was the most important reloading point for the western front . The Schlieffen Plan provided for the troops to be transported to the Western Front with the help of strategic railroads , to overthrow France in a quick campaign, and then to move the same troops east by rail to wage war with Russia . The station enabled the emperor to transport an entire army in 24 hours.
In the central wing, Wilhelm had his own imperial pavilion set up, the glass windows of which are based on medieval motifs. The subjects mix German claim to rule and Art Nouveau , for example in the depiction of Charlemagne on a stained glass window. The capitals depict the technical advances of that time: cars , zeppelin , social achievements such as retired railway workers, occupational medicine or the expansion of the colonial areas of Germany with the help of camels . The tension between state and church in medieval Europe is already taken up through the entire building , symbolized by the motif of the clock (bell) tower (departure area) and an imperial palace (arrival area).
The purpose provided for the architectural features of the facility. The platforms were very wide and very long. This enabled horses to be loaded and unloaded quickly in the event of a war . For each platform there was an area for travelers on foot and one for travelers on horseback plus a small ramp on the other side.
The tower on the left side of the station is the former water tower to supply the steam locomotives . It is currently being used for a new purpose. The first glass windows were removed in the 1970s when a parking lot was built at the level of the platforms.
The construction is based on more than 3000 reinforced concrete piles that reach a depth of 17 meters.
location
The station is located in the Quartier de la Gare, which is dominated by it, at a strategic hinge position outside the city limits of that time. The entire quarter is characterized by Wilhelmine architecture, which should symbolize a new dynamic for the city. The opening of the medieval walls of the city of Metz offered great opportunities for its development. The citizenry has long wanted a quarter of luxury villas with comfort and large plots as a showcase for their success. The other apartments and businesses in the district should also match their lifestyle. After the Second World War , the area was long shunned for political reasons. Today, however, the quality of urban development and architecture is being rediscovered without prejudice.
Traffic importance
With the integration of Alsace-Lorraine into the Reich, the Imperial Railways were founded in Alsace-Lorraine and operated the associated network. Today the station is served by trains of the regional express network TER-Grand Est (before the territorial reform: TER Lorraine ) and by TGV trains. The station also has a loading point for car trains .
The station in literature and film
In the novel The Katrin soldier of Adrienne Thomas Metz station plays a central role. The main actress Katrin volunteered to help the German Red Cross when the First World War broke out . The seventeen year old uses this at the Metz train station, which from now on will be the center of her life. She encounters the jubilant marching out and later returning seriously injured soldiers, French prisoners, the Count Zeppelin , various royalty and the crown prince at the imperial pavilion, while the front reaches out to Metz.
In the movie Der Zug , the extensive railway facilities at the Metz railway junction play a brief but decisive key role: In an almost five-minute sequence, the Resistance diverts the train from the line to Rémilly to the line to Pont-à-Mousson by setting several points .
literature
- Kriesche: The competition for the high-rise buildings of the new passenger station in Metz. In: Centralblatt der Bauverwaltung 22. Jg., 1902. Published in three parts: Issue 49, p. 298ff, digitized . Issue 51, p. 316 ff, digitized . Issue 53, p. 327 ff, digitized . Retrieved March 20, 2012.
- André Schontz: Le chemin de fer et la gare de Metz. Metz 1990.
- Niels Wilcken: Architecture in the Border Area. Public construction in Alsace-Lorraine (1871–1918). Saarbrücken 2000, pp. 121-136.
- Niels Wilcken: Metz et Guillaume II. Éditions Serpenoise, Metz 2007, ISBN 978-2-87692-648-6 , p. 136.
- Philippe Hubert: Metz, ville d'architectures , Serge Domini Éditeur, Metz 2004, ISBN 2-912645-70-0 , pp. 72–73.
- Rainer Humbach: Metz train station - Wilhelminian main station . In: Jörg Sauter (Ed.): Eisenbahn-Kurier . No. 4 . EK-Verlag , 2018, ISSN 0170-5288 , p. 62-67 .
- Adrienne Thomas: Katrin becomes a soldier and something else from Lorraine. Röhrig Universitätsverlag, St. Ingbert 2008, ISBN 978-3-86110-455-1 , (with the novel published in 1930, excerpts from the author's diary and texts on the reception of the novel).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ bahnbilder.de Bahnbilder France.
- ^ The Metz train stations on a private website, accessed March 20, 2012 (French).
- ↑ memotransfront.uni-saarland.de Further background information from Saarbrücken University.
- ↑ Terminal descriptions for the SNCF motorail train ( memento from January 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file; 4 MB).