Nancy, France
Nancy is the prefecture of the northeastern French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, located in the Grand Est region. The city is situated on the left bank of the Meurthe. The metropolitan area of Nancy had a population of 508,793 inhabitants as of 2021, making it the 16th-largest functional urban area in France and Lorraine's largest. The population of the city of Nancy proper is 104,387.
The origins of the city date back to the 11th century, when a fortified town was established by Gerard, Duke of Lorraine. Nancy developed into the ducal seat of the Duchy of Lorraine, a position it held until the duchy was annexed by France under King Louis XV in 1766 and replaced by a province, with Nancy maintained as capital. The city's Old Town, centered around the Ducal Palace of Nancy, reflects this long history, while the 18th-century Ville-Neuve bears witness to a period of ambitious urban planning under Stanislaus I of Poland. His patronage produced some of the city's most notable monuments, including the Place Stanislas, a large square built between 1752 and 1756 by architect Emmanuel Héré, today inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Following its rise to prominence in the Age of Enlightenment, it was nicknamed the "capital of Eastern France" in the late 19th century. Nancy became an important industrial and cultural hub in the 19th and early 20th centuries, especially during the Art Nouveau period. The École de Nancy, a collective of artists and architects led by figures such as Émile Gallé and Victor Prouvé, made the city a centre of innovation in decorative arts and design. Its legacy is still visible today in numerous buildings, glassworks, and collections.
In the present day, Nancy is a regional centre for culture, science, and education. It hosts the University of Lorraine, one of the largest French universities. With the Centre Hospitalier Régional Universitaire de Brabois, the conurbation is home to one of the main health centres in Europe, renowned for its innovations in surgical robotics. Notable cultural institutions include the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nancy and the Opéra national de Lorraine. The motto of the city is —a reference to the thistle, which is a symbol of Lorraine.
History
The earliest signs of human settlement in the area date to 800 BC. Early settlers were likely attracted by easily mined iron ore and a ford in the river Meurthe. Its name is first attested as Nanciaco, possibly from a Gaulish personal name. A small fortified town named Nanciacum was built by Gérard, Duke of Lorraine around 1050.Nancy was burned in 1218 at the end of the War of Succession of Champagne, and conquered by Emperor Frederick II. It was rebuilt in stone over the next few centuries as it grew in importance as the capital of the Duchy of Lorraine. Duke Charles the Bold of Burgundy, was defeated and killed in the Battle of Nancy in 1477; René II, Duke of Lorraine became the ruler.
Following the failure of both Emperor Joseph I and Emperor Charles VI to produce a son and heir, the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 left the throne to the latter's next child. This turned out to be a daughter, Maria Theresa of Austria. In 1736, Emperor Charles arranged her marriage to Duke François of Lorraine, who reluctantly agreed to exchange his ancestral lands for the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
The exiled Polish king Stanislaus I, father-in-law of the French king Louis XV, was then given the vacant duchy of Lorraine. Under his nominal rule, Nancy experienced growth and a flowering of Baroque culture and architecture. Stanislaus oversaw the construction of Place Stanislaus, a major square and development connecting the old medieval with a newer part of the city. On the south side of the Place Stanislaus is the Hôtel de Ville, which was completed in 1755. Upon Stanislaus' death in February 1766, Lorraine and Barrois became a regular government of the Kingdom of France. A parlement for Lorraine and Barrois was established in Nancy in 1776.
As unrest surfaced within the French Armed Forces during the French Revolution, a full-scale mutiny, known as the Nancy affair, took place in Nancy in the latter part of summer 1790. A few units loyal to the government laid siege to the town and shot or imprisoned the mutineers.
In 1871, Nancy remained French when Germany annexed Alsace-Lorraine. In 1909 it hosted the Exposition Internationale de l'Est de la France between May and November.
Nancy was occupied by German forces beginning in 1940 and renamed Nanzig. During the Lorraine Campaign of World War II, Nancy was liberated from Nazi Germany by the US Third Army in September 1944, at the Battle of Nancy.
In 1988, Pope John Paul II visited Nancy. In 2005, French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and Polish President Aleksander Kwaśniewski inaugurated the renovated Place Stanislas, which was recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.
Geography
Nancy is situated on the left bank of the river Meurthe, about 10 km upstream from its confluence with the Moselle. The Marne–Rhine Canal runs through the city, parallel to the Meurthe. Nancy is surrounded by hills that are about 150 m higher than the city center, which is situated at 200 m above mean sea level. The area of Nancy proper is relatively small: 15 km2. Its built-up area is continuous with those of its adjacent suburbs. The neighboring communes of Nancy are: Jarville-la-Malgrange, Laxou, Malzéville, Maxéville, Saint-Max, Tomblaine, Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy and Villers-lès-Nancy.The oldest part of Nancy is the quarter Vieille Ville – Léopold, which contains the 14th century Porte de la Craffe, the Palace of the Dukes of Lorraine, the Porte Désilles and the 19th century St-Epvre basilica. Adjacent to its south is the quarter Charles III – Centre Ville, which is the 16th–18th century "new town". This quarter contains the famous Place Stanislas, the Nancy Cathedral, the Opéra national de Lorraine and the main railway station.
The population of the city proper experienced a small decrease in population since 2007, placing it behind Metz as the second largest city in the Lorraine. However, the urban area of Metz experienced population decline from 1990 to 2010 while the urban area of Nancy grew over the same period, becoming the largest urban area in Lorraine and second largest in the "Grand Est" region of northeastern France. Within the Nancy metropolitan area in recent years, the city population declined slightly at the roughly same time as a small increase in the population of its urban area.
Climate
Nancy has an oceanic climate, although a bit more extreme than most of the larger French cities. By the standards of France it is a "continental" climate with a certain degree of maritime.The temperatures have a distinct variation of the temperate zone, both during the day and between seasons but without being very different. Winters are cold and dry in freezing climates. Summers are not always sunny, but warm enough. Mists are frequent in autumn and the winds are light and not too violent. Precipitation tends to be less abundant than in the west of the country. Sunshine hours are almost identical to Paris and the snowy days are the same as Strasbourg. Although the lowest recorded temperature is officially −26.8 °C, some sources consider temperatures from −30 °C on 10 December 1879 before continuous data.
Demographics
Main sights
The old city centre’s heritage dates from the Middle Ages to the 18th century. The cathedral of Nancy, the Triumphal Arch and the "Place de la Carrière" are a fine examples of 18th-century architecture. The Palace of the Dukes of Lorraine is the former princely residence of the rulers. The palace houses the Musée Lorrain.A historic church is the Church of Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours, Nancy, final resting place of the last duke Stanislas. Other notable churches are the Church of Saint-François-des-Cordeliers and the Basilica of Saint-Epvre, which have historical ties to the ducal House of Lorraine.The Place Stanislas named after king of Poland and duke of Lorraine Stanislaus I, Place de la Carrière, and Place d'Alliance were added on the World Heritage Sites list by the UNESCO in 1983.
The "École de Nancy", a group of artists and architects founded by the glassmaster and furniture maker Émile Gallé, worked in the Art Nouveau style at the end of the 19th century and the early 20th century. It was principally their work which made Nancy a center of art and architecture that rivaled Paris and helped give the city the nickname "Capitale de l'Est". The city still possesses many Art Nouveau buildings. Furniture, glassware, and other pieces of the decorative arts are conserved at the Musée de l'École de Nancy, which is housed in the 1909 villa of Eugène Corbin, a Nancy businessman and supporter of the Art Nouveau there. The Musée des Beaux-Arts has further collections of the Art Nouveau movement.
A major botanical garden, the Jardin botanique du Montet, is located at Villers-lès-Nancy. Other gardens of interest include the city's earliest botanical garden, the Jardin Dominique Alexandre Godron, and various other public gardens and places of interest including the Pépinière and Parc Sainte-Marie. The town also has an aquarium. The surroundings of the train station are a busy commercial area.
Culture
The city is known for its World Heritage buildings at the Place Stanislas, which was opened April 2005 by Jacques Chirac after refurbishment.At the turn of the 20th century, Nancy was a major center of the Art Nouveau with the École de Nancy. The city possesses a unique and interesting Musée de l'École de Nancy with artworks by Émile Gallé, Louis Majorelle, Daum, Caravaggio, and others. Nancy also has other museums:- Museum of Fine Arts of Nancy with painters from the 15th to 20th centuries, and a huge collection of Daum crystal displayed in part of the old fortifications of the city.
- dedicated to the history of the Duchy of Lorraine and arts.
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- Musée de l'École de Nancy offers a testimony of the diversity of creative techniques practiced by the artists of this school, with a fine display of furniture, objets d'art, glassware, stained-glass, leather, ceramics, textiles, etc. from the period.
- The Iron History Museum
Nancy is known for its macarons and bergamotes, candies flavored with bergamot essential oil.