Nancy

A royal town...

Nancy has many centres of interest and a great variety of tours to offer to the visitor.

The city, which is the former capital of the Duchy, is famous for its range of buildings dating from the 18th century and its magnificent Place Stanislas, part of UNESCO World Heritage.

Stanislas Leszczinski, former King of Poland, who became Duke of Lorraine in 1737, initiated the project of establishing a square to honour and glorify his son-in-law, the King of France Louis XV. All around the Square, Emmanuel Héré constructed pavilions in the French Classical Style. A halt at the Fine Art Museum (Beaux-Arts) makes it possible for the visitor to admire a collection of paintings covering the main art movements in Europe from the 14th to the 20th Century. The exhibition of DAUM glassware uses a particularly interesting scenography, enabling the visitor to examine and compare works covering a hundred years of the famous Nancy glassmaker’s production.

Wandering in the old town gives an immense pleasure to everyone who wants to see buildings of interest such as the Porte de la Craffe which was the oldest gateway leading to the town, the Ducal Palace which houses the Museum of Lorraine's History, the Cordeliers’ Church and many imposing town mansions dating back to the 17th and 18th centuries.

The Place Stanislas symbolises the border separating the old and the new town where tourists will be able to see the Cathedral, Saint-Sebastien Church and the 18th century church of Our Lady of Mercy some distance away.

The square is also the starting point for a guided tour aiming at discovering the Art Nouveau architecture with banks, shops, the Chamber of Commerce, the Flo restaurant and several private houses. The diversity of architectural heritage that Nancy can offer to the visitor has no equivalent in France.

The Musée de l’Ecole de Nancy, a unique museum of Art Nouveau Decorative Arts, represents a typical example of the Art Nouveau movement which was launched at the turn of the 20th century by artists like Gallé, Daum, Vallin, Majorelle... The collections illustrate the wide range of techniques used by those artists to create affordable works of art for everyone. The Art Nouveau movement was presented through many different aspects with furniture, stained glass, glass, leatherwork, ceramics, textiles…