Metz Cathedral is vast and imposing. Its ocher color comes from the concentration of iron oxides inside the Jaumont stones used to build it. They were already appreciated during the Gallo-Roman era, as attested by numerous funerary steles found. The brilliance of the stone reveals the combinations of shadow and light fancied by 14th-century Gothic architecture. The nave of the cathedral rises at 136 ft (41 m), and its transept is 154 ft long (47 m) and 52 ft (16 m) wide. The whole building, in the shape of a Latin cross, is supported by 34 pillars about 10 ft (3 m) in diameter.