Metz was a large Celtic settlement before Caesar´s conquest of Gaul ("De Bello Gallico"). After the Romans had left and after the Huns lead by Attila had burnt it down in 451, the Merovingian kings made Metz to the capital of Austrasia. Bishop Arnulf of Metz (aka "Saint Arnoul"), advisor to the Merovingian court, was a progenitor of the Carolingian dynasty. Bishop Chrodegang of Metz, Charles Martel´s chancellor, founded the important Gorze Abbey, known for the Gorze Reform, a monastic reform movement, similar to that one of Cluny.

Today the metropolitan area of Metz has a population of nearly 400.000 and in summertime it can get really hot here.