Nancy tourist information
Nancy France
On its way North, the Meurthe River has carved out the hills which surround Nancy today. It is on one of these, hills, mount Sainte Geneviève, that proof is to be found of the first human settlement. There are traces of the extraction of "minette" (a type of iron ore) which the Iron Age man could easily mine. In Nancy, nothing remains of the Gallo Roman period, but the barbarian invasions left the area with a vast Alamanni cemetery.
The ford on the Meurthe River used by man and animals alike, the neighbouring Forest of Haye abounding in game, the negotiable road from north to south and the salt trail from east to west probably led Duke Gérard to build a small fortified town called Nanciacum. Religious orders, such as that of Notre Dame de Molesme, a structured ducal administration, an embryonic court and of course a market quickly contributed to the expansion of the city, which encroached little by little on the suburbs. At the same time, religious institutions multiplied: outside the city, the convent of Saint Jean de Jérusalem and the Cistercian abbey in Clairlieu, and inside, Saint-Epvre Church. The tactlessness of Duke Thiébaut incurred the wrath of his suzerain, Emperor Frédéric II, who subsequently besieged and set fire to the town.
From the 12th to the 15th century Nancy, which had risen from its ashes, now encircled by walls and with solid stone houses, prospered and spread until it became the county town and the capital city of the Duchy.
In 1298, the dukes' castle was transfered from its original site (present-day Lafayette street) where it was spared from flooding by the Meurthe, to of Grande Rue. Until the 15th century, the dukes succeeded in keeping a balance between the French Realm and the Holy Roman-German Empire, guaranteeing the independance of their duchy. Craft industries and trade were very dynamic. The neighbouring town of Saint Nicolas de Port is a good example as it asserted itself as one of the main commercial (and financial) centres in Europe. Greatly benefiting from its influence Nancy incorporated the very old Saint Dizier suburb, built the Saint Georges ducal funeral chapel in 1339 and the Craffe Gate in the second part of the 15th century. At the same time, the city continued its extension by constructing suburbs to the south.
The struggle between the rulers of Armagnac and Burgundy shook Lorraine; at the beginning of the 15th century, Lorraine joined the Barrois, thus endowing Nancy with the incontestable status of capital city of the duchy. The Burgundian sovereigns tried to take hold of Lorraine but were stopped by René II who defeated Charles the Bold in January 1477 under the walls of Nancy. Nancy was thus relieved from a particularly difficult siege. The gratitude of the duke took the form of tax exemptions, of the reconstruction of the city walls and of a votive church and adjoining monastry for Cordelier monks.
The first Renaissance style construction in Nancy was the Duke's Palace, rebuilt by order of duke Antoine.
The 16th century, with its wars of religion, was full of danger for Nancy. The dukes consequently had to endow it with the most modern fortifications, which were undertaken in the Old Town by two Italian architects Citoni and Galeani, and in the recently built New Town by Stabili, another Italian. The two cities stood close together but their system of fortification was independant, thus underlining the modernity of Charles III's New Town.The programme of the New Town consisted in stone buildings, in a grill of streets, in a sewage system and the creation of more fountains of drinkable water. The construction of a "Primatiale" (a church for the primate), which much later became the Cathedral, as well as the creation of numerous religious foundations epitomized the importance of the Counter Reformation for the dukes. At that time, artistic collaboration between France and Italy intensified.
The end of the 16th century and the first part of the 17th showed an astonishing contrast. On the one hand the Duchy of Lorraine, whose sovereignty was contested by the King of France, suffered epidemics of plague and a decrease in demography, whereas on the other hand the arts bloomed thanks to the presence of exceptional artists (Jacques Callot, Claude Deruet, Jacques de Bellange, Georges de la Tour...).
A campaign of reconstruction endowed Nancy with new walls, a new "Primatiale", Saint Sebastian Church, an opera house, a palace that was pretentiously nicknamed the "Little Louvre" (and which was never finished); followed by the construction of numerous private houses for the nobles and the upper middle classes.
Duke Léopold'son and heir married Maria Theresa of Austria and exchanged his duchy for Tuscany: By the treaty putting an end to the war of the polish succession. The King of France who was given Lorraine put his father in law -Stanislas Leszczynski- at the head of the Duchy which was to revert to France on his death. Like duke Léopold, the former king of Poland did not reside long in Nancy: he prefered Lunéville or Commercy. But in 1738, he had a church built which became the funeral pantheon of his family: Notre Dame de Bonsecours. He had the castle of la Malgrange (in the outskirts of Nancy) transformed and multiplied the number of religious and charitable institutions in the city. Above all he had the Old and the New Town linked by means of an architectural unity: the Royal Square (today called Stanislas Square), Carrière Square (rebuilt in keeping with the style of the day) and Alliance Square.
Nancy weather forecast
