In the footsteps of Graoully

The rue Taison is a section of the roman "cardo maximus", the North-South axis of the city. This road went from Trier to reach Marseille. The legend tells that Saint Clément, going down from the Sainte-Croix Hill to bring down the Graoully, imposed on the people of Metz to stay silent: he told them "Taisez-vous" ("Shut up") so that they don't wake up the monster, symbol of panagism. This story gave its name to the rue Taison. Nowadays, this is a lively pedestrian street with houses built in a Louis XV, Louis XVI, Gothic or Renaissance style. The effigy of the Graoully is hanging on the street.

Place Sainte-Croix is the town's highest point (189 m). The square is lined with several Gothic houses built between the 13th and 15th centuries. The square is home to the 14th-century Hôtel de la Bulette, whose name refers to the right to collect certain taxes on landed property, and which still boasts two corbelled watchtowers and battlements. Converted into a prison in the 16th century, into a girls' teacher training college in the 19th century, it was later converted into a maternity hospital.

Formerly the Place des Quatre Maisons, it marks the boundary of Gallo-Roman Metz. This intimate, picturesque square, laid out in 1905, is one of the charms of the old town. The square is also surrounded by the 13th-19th-century church of Sainte Ségolène and the Trinitaires, now a concert hall.

This building, known as the Chapelle Saint-Genest, was originally a Gothic mansion built in the 12th century. At the corner of rue d'Enfer and rue de la Jurue stood the neighboring house, known in Messinian tradition as the home of Rabelais during his stay in Metz from 1542 to 1547. All that remains today is a door and a window set against the wall at the end of the small garden.

The Maison des Têtes was built in the first half of the 16th century. The five busts are set against an architectural structure that still conforms to medieval standards (allusion to Antiquity and personification of the Orient, etc.).