Nancy[lower-alpha 1] is the capital of the north-eastern French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, and formerly the capital of the Duchy of Lorraine, and then the French province of the same name. The metropolitan area of Nancy had a population of 511,257 inhabitants at the 2017 census, making it the 16th largest urban area in France and the Lorraine's largest.[5] The population of the city of Nancy proper was 104,885.
The motto of the city is Non inultus premor, Latin for '"I am not injured unavenged"'[6]—a reference to the thistle, which is a symbol of Lorraine.
Place Stanislas, a large square built between March 1752 and November 1755 by Stanislaus I of Poland to link the medieval old town of Nancy and the new town built under Charles III in the 17th century, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the first place in France and in the top four in the world.The city also has many buildings listed as historical monuments and is one of the European centers of Art Nouveau thanks to the École de Nancy. Nancy is also one of the main university cities and the agglomeration is home to one of the main health centers in France.
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 Meurthe River. Its name is first attested as Nanciaco, possibly from a Gaulish personal name. A small fortified town named Nanciacum (Nancy) was built by Gérard, Duke of Lorraine around 1050.
The exiled Polish king Stanislaus I (Stanisław Leszczyński in Polish), 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. Upon Stanislaus' death in February 1766, Lorraine and Barrois became a regular government of the Kingdom of France.[7] A parlement for Lorraine and Barrois was established in Nancy in 1776.[7]
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 Prussia annexed Alsace-Lorraine. Artistic, academic, financial and industrial excellence flourished, establishing what is still the Capital of Lorraine's trademark to this day.[citation needed]
Nancy and other areas of France were occupied by German forces from 1940, renamed Nanzig. During the Lorraine Campaign of World War II, Nancy was liberated from Nazi Germany by the U.S. 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. It is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Geography
Nancy is situated on the left bank of the river Meurthe, about 10km 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: 15km2. 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 population of the city proper experienced a small decrease in population from 2009 to 2014, placing it behind Metz (117,619) as the second largest city in the Lorraine.[8][9] 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 (2009–2014) at the roughly same time as a small increase in the population of its urban area (2006–2012).
Climate
Nancy has an oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb), although a bit more extreme than most of the larger French cities.[10] By the standards of France it is a "continental" climate with a certain degree of maritimy (unrelated to the Köppen classification, since generally the whole country has a predominant mechanism favored by the West winds).[11][12]
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 (most similar weather conditions).[13] Although the lowest recorded temperature is officially −26.8°C, some sources consider temperatures from −30°C on 10 December 1879 before continuous data.[14]
Climate data for Nancy-Tomblaine (Les Ensanges), elevation: 217m or 712ft, 1961–1990 normals
The old city center's heritage dates from the Middle Ages to the 18th century. The cathedral of Nancy, the Triumphal Arch and the "Place de la Carriere" are a fine examples of 18th-century architecture.[21] The Palace of the Dukes of Lorraine is the former princely residence of the rulers. The palace houses the Musée Lorrain.
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 (mostly banks or private homes). 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 (public gardens). The town also has an aquarium.
The surroundings of the train station are a busy commercial area.
Culture
National Opera of LorraineMuseum of the École de Nancy
The city is known for its World Heritage buildings at the Place Stanislas, which was opened April 2005 by Jacques Chirac after refurbishment.
Museum of Fine Arts of Nancy (Musée des Beaux-Arts de 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.
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.[24]
Nancy is home to two of the three professional sport clubs in Lorraine: AS Nancy-Lorraine in football and SLUC Nancy in basketball. AS Nancy-Lorraine's Hall of Fame includes triple-Ballon d'Or and UEFA President Michel Platini, Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger, 1998 World Champion Aimé Jacquet, 2000 European Champion Roger Lemerre, 1998 African Ballon d'Or Mustapha Hadji, Irish legend Tony Cascarino, 1986 European Cup winner Sacha Zavarov and 1958 World Cup Semi-finalist Roger Piantoni.
AS Nancy-Lorraine won the French cup 1978 with captain Michel Platini who scored the only goal of the final (Nancy 1–0 Nice). More recently AS Nancy-Lorraine won the "Coupe de la Ligue" (French League Cup) in 2006 and reached fourth place in the French football league in 2007/2008.
SLUC Nancy won the last Korac European Cup in 2002, reached the finals of French championship of basketball (Pro A) four consecutive times and finally won his first trophy in 2008. Also winner of "Semaine des As" in 2005 and champion of 2nd league (pro B) in 1994.
Pierre Deladonchamps (born 1 June 1978), actor: A Childhood (Une Enfance), Stranger by the Lake (L'Inconnu du Lac)
Transport
Nancy's guided busway, known as the 'tramway on tires'
The main railway station is Gare de Nancy-Ville, with direct connections to Paris (high-speed rail line), Metz, Lyon, Strasbourg and several regional destinations. The motorway A31 connects Nancy with Metz, Luxembourg and Langres.
Public transport within Nancy is provided by Service de Transport de l'Agglomération Nancéienne (STAN),[30] operated by Veolia Transport, operating the Tram by STAN and around 20 conventional bus routes.
The most heavily used route, the Tram T1, is a so-called 'tramway on tires', which is actually a guided busway based on Bombardier Transportation's Guided Light Transit (GLT) technology and using articulatedtrolleybuses. In addition to diesel buses, Nancy has been served by trolleybuses since 1982, but in 2000 the three-route trolleybus system was reconfigured into a single, longer route[citation needed] and with a surface guidance system added (GLT, or TVR in French). The guidance systems covers about two-thirds of the approximately 10-km route, and the trolleybuses are separated from other traffic over that portion of the route, speeding travel times. During its first two years, the new system suffered many incidents and malfunctions of the guidance system, but now works without significant problems.[citation needed]
Heraldry
The greater coat of arms.
The coat of arms of Nancy displays a thistle, originally considered to be a symbol of Virgin Mary, and adopted as a personal symbol by René of Anjou and later by his descendant René II, Duke of Lorraine. Contrary to the Scottish thistle, the one of Lorraine is always shown with its roots. During the wars against Burgundy, the thistle became an emblem for the people of Lorraine as a whole. It officially became the attribute of the city of Nancy in 1575 when Charles III, Duke of Lorraine granted the city with its own coat of arms.[31]
At first, the coat of arms of Nancy had a chief of Lorraine, which meant that the upper part showed the ducal arms, namely three alerions on a red bend. Later, the chief of Lorraine was replaced by a more complex one which gathers the former possessions of the Dukes of Lorraine. The upper row comprises from left to right the arms of the Kingdom of Hungary, the Kingdom of Naples, the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Kingdom of Aragon, while the lower row comprises the Duchy of Anjou, the Duchy of Guelders, the Duchy of Jülich and the County of Bar. The inescutcheon is the coat of arms of Lorraine itself.[31]
The coat of arms displays the motto, which appeared in the end of the 16th century. It was initially "Nul ne s'y frotte" ("no one attacks it"), but it was changed to Latin "Non inultus premor" in 1616. The motto has a similar meaning to the Scottish one, "Nemo me impune lacessit", usually translated as "No one attacks me with impunity", which also makes reference to the thistle. The coat of arms further displays the Legion of Honour, awarded to the city after the First World War, and the War Crosses 14–18 and 39–45.[31]
Bourges is a commune in central France on the Yèvre river. It is the capital of the department of Cher, and also was the capital of the former province of Berry.
The 6th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as sixième.
Saint-Étienne is a city in eastern central France, in the Massif Central, 55 km (34 mi) southwest of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, on the trunk road that connects Toulouse with Lyon. Saint-Étienne is the capital of the Loire department.
A grande école is a French institution of higher education that is separate from, but parallel and often connected to, the main framework of the French public university system. Grandes écoles are elite education institutes with highly competitive admission requirements, a large proportion of whose graduates populate the upper levels of the private and public sectors of French society.
Lunéville is a commune in the northeastern French department of Meurthe-et-Moselle.
The County of Bar, later Duchy of Bar, was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire encompassing the pays de Barrois and centred on the city of Bar-le-Duc. It was held by the House of Montbéliard from the 11th century. Part of the county, the so-called Barrois mouvant, became a fief of the Kingdom of France in 1301 and was elevated to a duchy in 1354. The Barrois non-mouvant remained a part of the Empire. From 1480, it was united to the imperial Duchy of Lorraine.
Mines Nancy is one of the leading French engineering Grandes Écoles.
Daum is a crystal studio based in Nancy, France, founded in 1878 by Jean Daum (1825–1885). His sons, Auguste Daum (1853–1909) and Antonin Daum (1864–1931), oversaw its growth during the burgeoning Art Nouveau period. Currently Daum is the only commercial crystal manufacturer employing the pâte de verre process for art glass and crystal sculptures, a technique in which crushed glass is packed into a refractory mould and then fused in a kiln.
The Place Stanislas is a large pedestrianised square in the French city of Nancy, in the Lorraine region. Since 1983, the architectural ensemble comprising the Place Stanislas, the extension of its axis, the Place de la Carrière, and the Place d'Alliance, has been on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The National Polytechnic Institute of Lorraine, based in Nancy, is a French university system. It is under the Academy of Nancy and Metz.
The Museum of Fine Arts of Nancy, one of the oldest museums in France, is housed in one of the pavilions on Place Stanislas, in the heart of the 18th-century urban ensemble, a World Heritage Site by Unesco. The museum displays an important collection of European paintings and is largely open to design, including a gallery dedicated to Jean Prouvé or the Daum factory.
Georges Jacquot was a French sculptor.
The Château de Commercy is a castle in the town of Commercy, in the Meuse department of France. It was the principal residence of the reigning Prince of Commercy and was built by Charles Henri de Lorraine. The site, château and grounds, was classified Monument historique in 1960, with the roofs and façades of the wings being classified in 1972.
The Ducal Palace of Nancy is a former princely residence in Nancy, France, which was home to the Dukes of Lorraine. It houses the Musée Lorrain, one of Nancy's principal museums, dedicated to the art, history and popular traditions of Lorraine until the early 20th century. It has been listed since 1840 as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture.
École de Nancy, or the Nancy School, was a group of Art Nouveau artisans and designers working in Nancy, France between 1890 and 1914. Major figures included the furniture designer Louis Majorelle, ebenist and glass artist Jacques Grüber, the glass and furniture designer Émile Gallé, and the crystal manufactory of Daum. Their work was largely inspired by floral and vegetal forms found in the region. The goal of the group was to produce in series ordinary objects, such as furniture, glassware, and pottery, with fine craftsmanship and in original forms, making art objects available for people's homes.
The University of Lorraine, often abbreviated in UL, is a grand établissement created on 1 January 2012 by the merger of Henri Poincaré, Nancy 2 and Paul Verlaine Universities, and the National Polytechnic Institute of Lorraine (INPL), etc... It aimed to unify the main colleges of the Lorraine region. The merger process started in 2009 with the creation of a "pôles de recherche et d'enseignement supérieur" or PRES.
The Sisters of the Christian Doctrine of Nancy (D.C.) is a religious order of the Roman Catholic Church for women, whose primary mission is the teaching and nursing of the poor. Its members place after their names the order's initials, D.C. They are known as the "Vatelottines" in honor of their founder, and also "School Sisters", especially in Germany and Luxembourg, because of their primary mission. They should not be confused with the Spanish order of the Sisters of the Christian Doctrine (Mislata), which was founded in 1880.
The history of Nancy, France, the capital city of Lorraine, dates back to at least 800 BC with the earliest signs of human settlement in the area. Early settlers were likely attracted by easily mined iron ore and a ford in the Meurthe River. A small fortified town named Nanciacum (Nancy) was built by Gerard, Duke of Lorraine around 1050.
Art Nouveau in Strasbourg developed and was cultivated as a mixture of French influences, especially from the École de Nancy, and Germanic influences, particularly Darmstadt Artists' Colony and Vienna Secession, with some influences of Brussels Art Nouveau added. That synthesis reflected both the position of Strasbourg as a crossroads of European cultures, and the search for a specific identity of the locals, who had been incorporated into the German Empire some 30 years prior, after two centuries of French domination.
The Arc Héré or Porte Héré is a triumphal arch located in the city of Nancy, France, on the north side of the Place Stanislas. It was designed by Emmanuel Héré de Corny to honor the French king Louis XV and was built between 1752 and 1755. Its architecture is inspired by the Arch of Septimius Severus in Rome. The Arc replaced an older royal gate constructed under the rule of Louis XIV; three bas reliefs from the old gate are featured on the Arc.
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