Cathédrale Saint-Etienne de Metz

Cathédrale Saint-Étienne de Metz rises high above Metz's old town. Built from the same golden Jaumont limestone as the streets around it, making whole building appear to glow even under grey skies. The exterior stone is quite photogenic. If you can time it to shoot from the Place d'Armes in the last hour before sunset, the walls appear to turn from honey coloured to deep orange, the tall narrow front and its rose window warms up. The interior has been nicknamed the Lantern of God. The nave climbs roughly 40m on slim walls that were built to be filled with as much glass as possible, and as a result the cathedral is home to the largest collection of stained glass anywhere, that covers the pale stone walls with a rainbow of colours. The windows flow from medieval and Renaissance masters to Marc Chagall, whose mid-century panels in deep swirling blues are the ones most people come to photograph. Light shifts around the cathedral throughout the day so the choir and eastern windows photograph best in the morning, the Chagall glass in the transept comes alive as the sun swings round in the middle of the day, and the rose window on the west warms up during the late afternoon. The interior stays dim, so you'll want to brace against a pillar or use a small tripod, and ideally skip the flash since it kills the colour. You should aim to expose for the glass while letting the stonework fall darker. Entry is free but remember it is a working church, so plan around services if you want the place quiet and give worshippers their space. (Metz, Moselle, France)