Nancy Old Town

NANCY, the Old Town

The city of Nancy, France, was the capital of the independent Duchy of Lorraine until 1766 when it became French. Nancy is famous worldwide for its three 18th century squares, which are World Heritage listed by UNESCO since 1983: Place Stanislas, Place de la Carrière and Place d’Alliance.

This square was the main trading centre in the Middle-Ages where a market used to be held. The statue in the middle depicts Duke René II who defeated the Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, at the Battle of Nancy in 1477.

Over the last 15 years – after much restoration –, the old town of Nancy has revealed itself to be a significant asset amongst visitors and amateur students of art. The “Ville Vieille” is Nancy’s historic centre, founded in the 11th century and displays some good examples of medieval and Renaissance style architecture. The “Ville Vieille” was the Nancy of the Middle Ages. Around it were to be found only swamps, fields and forests. The most eminent building was the castle of the Dukes of Lorraine. Nestled around the Grande Rue and the Dukes’ Palace, the “Ville Vieille” is stil there to be discovered with its narrow streets, a stone’s throw from the magnificent Place Stanislas. This article will bring this interesting district of town to light, starting at Place Saint-Epvre, the forme epicentre of this busy city.

PLACE SAINT EPVRE AND THE BASILICA

Emperor Franz-Joseph donated the monumental main staircase and some stained-glass windows from Bavaria portraying him and his wife under the features of Saint Francis and Saint Elizabeth. Napoleon III and the Empress Eugenie also offered stained-glass windows depicting them as Saint Louis and Saint Eugenie (even though their faces were altered after 1870).

The mansion houses a 4 star hotel with tastefully decorated rooms. The street façade surrounds a lovely courtyard. The beautiful balustrades were designed in two different styles: flamboyant Gothic (first floor) and Renaissance (second floor).

On the right-hand side of the porch is a beautiful staircase decorated with rails designed by Jean Lamour (the designer of Place Stanislas’ railings). Its door is usually open so you can admire the flight of stairs made of stone, dominated by the celebrated ceiling in the loggia with its exotic birds and enhanced with an architectural trompe-l’oeil. The painted sheet-iron eagle was added in the 19th century to the celebrated ceiling above the staircase. Its head used to follow the movement of the roof’s weathercock.

However, the style of the new church did not receive a consensus among Nancy’s population because the emblematic watchtower of the original church had not been kept. The new church’s bell tower rises up to 87 metres, high above the distinctive copper roofs, which have weathered to pale green. The violent December 1999 storm damaged the roofs and the tower. Today, the church is undergoing a thorough external renovation that is planned to last several years.

From the square, take the little street of Rue Monseigneur Trouillet, second on the right after the Grande Rue.

No 9, Rue Monseigneur Trouillet - http://www.hotel-haussonville.fr

These peaceful streets, parallel to the busy Grande Rue, have a number of beautiful private mansions. Two of them are worth a stop: the Haussonville Mansion and the Mansion des Loups.

With such a name, everyone would guess that there is a certain link to Italy. Indeed, Louis de Ferrari was a native of Northern Italy who had been exiled from his land during a French invasion. He ended up in Lorraine, under the service of Duke Charles V of Lorraine. Louis de Ferrari fitted in well with the Lorraine nobility and eventually married Anne Charlotte de Fontette.

Of all the extensive fortifications erected around the “Ville Vieille” until the 16th century, only a very few parts of them remain today. The best example is the impressive Craffe Gate.

If you walk inside to reach the other end, you will notice that the Craffe is in fact a doubled gate. A second gate (named Notre-Dame) was added to the rear of the Craffe, in the early 16th century by Duke René II. This Notre-Dame Gate was initially separated to the Craffe by a trench, before being linked to the Craffe by a vault. At first, this side of the gate was called “Bordes Gate”, after the hovels, where contagious sick people who were not permitted to enter the city, used to live.

In Nancy, locals are still very proud of their history. One important date was the defeat of the Burgundian armies of Charles the Bold in 1477 in the neighbourhood of Nancy. The mighty Craffe Gate boldly resisted the sieges of Charles the Bold – it maybe explains why the gate is still standing today!

Many famous contributors of the 19th century generously donated to its erection: Napoleon III, Austrian Emperor Franz-Joseph, Pope Pius and Ludwig II of Bavaria. It was the Church’s priest, Abbot Trouillet, who sought the generosity of the European elite and aristocracy of his time.

RUE MONSEIGNEUR TROUILLET AND RUE DES LOUPS

This mansion is located in Rue des Loups (Wolves’ Street), to which it owes its name. The architect Germain Boffrand built it in the 18th century.

As in one of the gateway of the Cathedral of Metz, the centre of the gate was altered in the 17th century to display a classical decoration, following a fashionable custom of the time. This lasted until the 19th century when Commander Trancart ordered the restoration of the gate to a neo-gothic style, which included effigy copies of the Dukes of Lorraine, a Madonna and Child (from the 14th century) and an opening in the shape of a Lorraine Cross, still visible today.

A few metres to the North from the Craffe Gate, stands the Citadel Gate. Duke Charles III commissioned it in the 17th century as part of the duplication of Nancy’s fortifications.

It is hard today to imagine how it used to look like back then: four bastions surrounded the Citadel Gate and ditches separated it from the Craffe Gate. In the 17th century, these ditches were filled with water from the Boudonville Stream during the French occupation. But a defensive gate needed to be decorated with the style and taste of the time. First look at the outside of the gate which once overlooked the countryside, and you will observe how, in 1598, architect Drouin le Jeune designed the Citadel Gate in a Renaissance style, recognisable by the broken pediment enhanced with arms trophies.

Despite its appearance, the Gothic Saint-Epvre basilica, which towers above the Old Town was only built at the end of the 19th century by Prosper Morey. Nevertheless, it remains a beautiful masterpiece of gothic architecture praised by Viollet-le-Duc (the architect who renovated France’s most celebrated cathedrals and Carcassonne).

THE HAUSSONVILLE MANSION (L’Hôtel d’Haussonville)

The mansion was built between 1528 and 1543 by Jean d’Haussonville, the Seneschal of Lorraine who sadly did not live long enough to see it completed. An ornate door was added in the 19th century to the staircase tower’s doorway.

No 1, Rue des Loups

THE MANSION DES LOUPS (L’Hôtel des Loups)

Two stone wolves in a sitting position stand at each side of the monumental gate. They tell us about the function of the owner: Master of the Wolf Hunt of the Duke of Lorraine.

At the end of Rue des Loups, turn left to Rue Haut-Bourgeois towards the Craffe Gate.

THE FERRARIS MANSION (L’Hôtel Ferrari)

No 29, Rue Haut-Bourgeois

Around 1717 he built a magnificent building which revealed his Italian origins through the use of the family coat of arms: the Florentine fleur-de-lis. The porch of the classical street façade leads to a courtyard typical of mansions of that time and decorated with a fountain built under a segmental arch. A statue of Neptune leaning on a seahorse stands in its centre. Two groups of cherubs used to flank the statue, adding more appeal to the fountain, but were taken out in the early 20th century. This painted niche was restored during the Belle Epoque but unfortunately is looking deteriorated nowadays.

Notice the alternation of the Ferrari Fontette’s initials with the Florentine fleurs-de-lis along the handrail.

Above the porch is a grotesque mask of Saturn. Elaborate consoles support an elegant balcony set above the porch, which in turn is crowned by a triangular pediment and a rocaille cartouche. The arms of the Ferraris were destroyed during the Revolution; all that has remained is its base, made of graceful Foo dogs (which legend described as dragons!) - inspired by Chinese art.

At the end of Rue Haut-Bourgeois, your walk will lead you to the Craffe Gate.

THE CRAFFE GATE (Porte de la Craffe)

The Craffe Gate, built in the 14th century, remains the oldest and the most remarkable part of the city’s walls and housed a sinister prison from the 15th century. Its twin towers were built in 1463 and have walls three metres thick whose windows were opened in order to let soldiers firing in all directions to their enemies. On top of the gateways, brattices were designed to drop missiles, boiling oil and pitch onto the enemy below.

Before 1870, no pedestrian gates framing the gate to the left and to the right existed but local architect Prosper Morey then created them. As for the small lantern above the main gate, it was added in the early 17th century. Its bell was used for the local community: it rang out the hours of the day, informed them of the beginning of curfew and of public executions and corvees – how handy indeed!

The main reason of Duke René II behind the erection of the Notre-Dame Gate was to strengthen the city’s fortifications. For this purpose, he ordered the setting up of a large platform at the rear of the Craffe, in the direction of the rural village of Saint-Dizier. For strategic reasons, the village was then entirely destroyed, except for three houses, which were left standing (to this day, this district of Nancy is known as “Faubourg des Trois Maisons”).

Walk under through the Craffe Gate and a few metres further, you’ll reach a second gate: the Citadel Gate.

THE CITADEL GATE (Porte de la Citadelle)

The two allegoric statues refers to the Dukes’ virtue (maybe Equity and Temperance)… these are not copies but originals! As for the original coat of arms of the Duke between the statues, they disappeared at the Revolution, as did the statue of the Virgin between both frames of the gate’s pediment. In 1863, sculptor Viard restored the gate and fixed a statue of Duke Charles III (or is it Jean de Salm) where the Virgin used to stand.

Now, back to the city side of the gate, you can see two Hercules brandishing a club, arm trophies, as well as four beautiful mannerist compositions of two horsemen and two infantrymen.

Retrace your steps back to the Craffe Gate and continue your walk through the Grande Rue with its small boutiques and cosy restaurants. You will then reach the little court of the Cordeliers Church. To buy your entrance tickets, you will first need to enter the Duke’s Palace, a few metres further on! If you plan to visit the Dukes’ Palace as well, buy a pass that will give you access to the Church, the Lorraine Museum and the Museum of Popular Arts and Tradition.

Next to the Dukes’ Palace stands the church of the Cordeliers, which takes its name from the Franciscan Order whose members wore a cord around their waist. If the building does not look too grandiose, it nevertheless holds a long and rich history that still continues today with the descendant of the Habsburg dynasty. Duke René II commissioned the building of the Church in the 15th century as a dedication for his victory over Charles the Bold at the battle of Nancy in 1477.

The building does not hold regular services today and you may find that it is something between a church and a museum, as it serves as a necropolis for the Dukes of Lorraine.

THE CHURCH OF THE CORDELIERS (L’église des Cordeliers)

Along the nave are some interesting Renaissance polychrome tombs. In the southern wall is Duke René II’s tomb, which was unfortunately partially destroyed during the Revolution. But it is the tomb of René II’s wife, Philippe de Gueldre, which is the most moving. The remarkable recumbent figure of the Duchess is a stained limestone work from Ligier Richier, which miraculously escaped from the destruction of the Révolutionnaires.

Reach the choir stalls of the church and take the time to admire the stalls from 1691 with their putti playing music. They originally came from the Abbey of Salival (dismantled at the Revolution) and were put back together in the church in 1818 in an attempt to remove all traces of the damage caused during the Revolution.

When the church was consecrated in 1487, it was linked to the Dukes’ Palace by a covered hallway, which has now disappeared. Once inside, the visitor is impressed by the length of the nave (73 metres-long) and by the church’s vault, decorated with frescos of rich colours.

The polychrome altarpiece, which decorates the altar stone dates from 1522 and depicts the Holy Trinity. Its shell-niches contain representations of evangelists and saints, as well as the Annunciation.

From there, you can admire the classical-style rose window above the portal, filled with modern stained glass featuring the coat of arms of the House of Lorraine.

To the left of the altar is a small hallway leading to another outstanding circular-shaped space of the Church: the Chapel, inspired by that of the Medicis in Florence.

The chapel was built between 1609 and 1612 and its superb octagon dome was decorated with small lanterns in 1632. Despite what the visitor can see and admire, the sanctuary never reached the initial expectations of the Dukes.

The hallway used to house an uncommon Romanesque sculpted group depicting a crusader with wife in an embrace.

Adjoining the church, the Monastery of the Cordeliers was built, which now hosts the Museum of Popular Arts and Tradition, part of the Lorraine Museum. Former rural life in Lorraine is displayed through housing, furniture, tools and craftworks, as well as reconstructions of Lorraine house interiors.

The Cordeliers Church has always been dear to the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty, for many of their ancestors are buried here. This is where Marie-Antoinette stopped on her way to meet her future husband Louis XVI in 1770 to pay respect at the graves of her ancestors in the circular-shaped Chapel.

On the 10th May 1951, Archduke Otto von Habsburg married Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen in Nancy and the ceremony was held in the church. In 2001, the couple and their family met in the church to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. One of the Lorraine Museum staff told us that Otto and his family regularly come to Nancy to pay their respects to their ancestors.

The epicentre of the Lorraine of the Dukes, today the Palace shows but a pale reflection of its prestigious past. For when the Dukes and their Courts inhabited it, Lorraine was an independent Duchy of significant importance, nestled between two worlds: the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire of the Habsburg. The Palace was then larger in size and incorporated other buildings, which have now disappeared.

The long façade of the Palace that you can see from the Grande Rue was actually re-built in the 15th century. For when Duke René II came victorious from Charles the Bold in 1477, the castle of his ancestors was falling apart. The renovation process took a long time and after René’s death, his son Antoine decided to continue the works.

THE DUKES’ PALACE (Le Palais Ducal)

For some reason, Duke Antoine had spent part of his childhood in Blois’ chateau. Later on, he took part in the battle of Pavia in Italy and came back to Lorraine with the ideas of Renaissance. All this explains the striking resemblance of the Palace’s portal with that of Blois. Duke Antoine was not afraid of plagiarism: he simply commissioned an equestrian statue of the Duke carved in a niche surrounded by a segmental arch. But he did not stop there. Cable mouldings, mullioned windows, a series of candelabria, grotesques and gargoyles, putti, arms trophies, balconies with carved culs-de-lampes: all added a remarkable and elegant combination of Gothic and Renaissance styles to the street-façade of the Palace.

Of course, the Révolutionnaires did not appreciate Duke Antoine’s statue and it was destroyed. Happily, a replica of the original by Giorné Viard was inserted back in the niche in 1851.

On the garden side, the 16th century staircase “Escalier de l'Horloge” (also known as “Paradise Tower”) separates the older part of the Palace and the classical wing later commissioned by Duke Leopold. The typical elements of the early Renaissance (also known as “transition Gothic”) are also displayed in the inner courtyard, by the use of equilateral arches and buttresses crowned with gothic pinnacles.

But the Palace was to be abandoned by Duke Leopold in the 18th century who preferred residing in Lunéville, 30 km South-East of Nancy. It served first as stables and then as barracks for the gendarmes. Like the Louvre in Paris, the Palace became a museum. It has displayed the history of Lorraine since 1848, thanks to the Lorraine Society of Archaeology. Another catastrophe for the Palace happened in 1871 when a fire destroyed much of the Museum’s collections and severely damaged the building.

But the tenacity of the Lorraine Society and other patrons prevailed over that which had been lost and the Museum has become one of the best in Lorraine today.

The Lorraine Museum hosts some unique collections of local artists worth a visit: Ligier Richier, Georges de La Tour and Jacques Callot, as well as works of some of Lorraine’s largest manufacturing factories. Other tapestries, furniture and paintings exhibited there date back to the Dukes’ era and reflect the prosperity of their Court.

Your day must now be towards its end! You may return to the Place Saint Epvre for a coffee and afterwards continue your stroll to the nearby Place de la Carrière and Place Stanislas… but remember that that is another era – another atmosphere: the classical 18th century city of King Stanislas.