Visiting the Medieval
Monastery of Gorze in Lorraine (Eastern France) by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
One
of the most interesting places my husband Laurent and I visited outside Metz
(France) was the Gorze Monastery. On the
way there, we passed ruins of a Roman aqueduct at Ars sur Moselle.
At
the entry to Gorze, we passed another aqueduct that ran partly
underground. Roman ruins made me think
of how much history there is in France – from a Westerner’s point of view anyways. China and India are both older civilizations
than ancient Egypt.
We
began our visit by climbing a small hill leading to the monastery chapel. The tympanum, the half circle arch over the
main entryway to the church, was what I called a Romanesque Last Judgment in
haiku form.
All
Last Judgment elements were there – the devil, monsters, angels with trumpets,
a baleful Christ, and the select few.
We
next visited an information-packed museum.
We watched an interesting slideshow abut the ancient Roman water system
in the Metz (France) region.
According
to our tour guide, Gorze is better known among Germans than the French, because
the Abbey had many established several orders in Germany. The Abbey no longer exists in France, but the
orders in Germany do.
According
to the guide, Gorze’s claim to fame is that the 8th century bishop
Chrodegung founded a school of “chants romain-messin” that later spread across
Europe as Gregorian chants.
We
ended our visit with a stop at the Graoully Restaurant and Bar. We drank Kronenburg beers while the children
played.
I
thought the trip to Metz was a great weekend outing from Paris, and it was
still not over.
By
Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Click here for: Ruth Paget's Amazon Books
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