Mont Saint-Quentin de Metz et l'oratoire de l'évêque Drogon

Scy-Chazelles

The summit no longer has either oratory or chapel: a plateau of calcareous grassland and woods, cut by 19th-century embankments and ditches. Yet it was here, in 835, that Drogo, fortieth bishop of Metz and natural son of Charlemagne, brought back from Saint-Quentin in the Vermandois relics of the martyr Quentin and had an oratory built to receive them; the commune of Scy-Chazelles gives the date of 825, Wikipedia, the town hall of Plappeville and the tourist office that of 835. The oratory became a sanctuary that served for centuries as the parish church of the villages at the foot of the hill, Scy, Chazelles, Lessy, Longeville and Plappeville, and gave its name to the hill. In 1143 the church was confirmed to the abbey of Gorze, in 1212 it went to Saint-Symphorien, before passing to the cathedral chapter, which kept there, according to Wikipedia, its four-pillared gibbet. The parish was transferred to Scy, where the fortified church of Saint-Quentin, founded in the 12th century (around 1177 according to Wikipedia), has kept the dedication; the summit church was destroyed, in the 13th century according to Wikipedia, in 1386 by Gérard de Blankenheim according to the historian of Plappeville Louis Viansson, and a chapel with its hermitage replaced it, still shown on the Trudaine atlas in the 18th century. Both disappeared at the Revolution. It is said that the Gauls celebrated their rites here and that the Romans planted vines. The fortifications of 1867–1898 have covered the summit; the site has been listed since 1994.

Wikipédia — Mont Saint-Quentin (Moselle) ↗

Getting there : By the roads that climb to the Col de Lessy from Scy-Chazelles, Lessy or Plappeville; car parks at the col and on the edge of the woods. Two paths waymarked by the Eurométropole, the Tour du Mont Saint-Quentin and the Secrets du Mont Saint-Quentin, cross the plateau; the small loop from the Col de Lessy is 9.5 km in three hours for 150 m of ascent. The site is closed from 10 pm to 6 am, dogs on a lead, and the military works cannot be visited. The best views of the hill are from the esplanade of Metz.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound