The Architecture of Nancy: A Mirror of a Thousand Years of History

The architecture of Nancy tells the history of the former capital of the Dukes of Lorraine.

Nancy is the city where I was born. My city of the heart, too.

I didn’t live there for very long, but every time I return, it feels like meeting up with an old friend who has never really changed – or rather, who has always managed to reinvent herself without losing her soul.

When I was a child, my grandmother lived in town.

Visiting her was often the excuse for a little expedition on foot into the centre.

We would wander through the streets of the old town, a pain au chocolat in hand (priorities, right?), and I would let myself be drawn in by the facades, the carved doorways, the spires reaching skyward.

Perhaps that’s where, without even realising it, my passion for architecture was born.

And then there was the Grail: Place Stanislas. The cherry on the cake.

The moment when, after a few twists and turns through the back streets, I suddenly emerged onto that golden square.

Back then, the square wasn’t yet fully pedestrianised: to reach the statue of Stanislas, you had to weave your way through the cars.

The last times I explored the architecture of Nancy, it was at the invitation of the tourist office.

A perfect opportunity to whip out my camera and shoot (in the good sense of the word) every facade, every little detail.

And when I looked back over my photos, the truth was obvious: Nancy is a time machine.

Here, you move from the Middle Ages to the Belle Époque in just a few steps.

You bump into Gothic, Baroque, Rococo, Classical, Art Nouveau, Art Deco… and even the “very contemporary” (with varying degrees of success, but well, one has to live with one’s times).

So today, let me take you along on this temporal stroll in search of the fascinating architecture of Nancy.

No DeLorean or wormhole required: a good pair of shoes will do. Shall we?

Where to Stay in Nancy

Nancy offers a wide choice of accommodation, whether you’re looking for a charming boutique hotel in the old town, a cosy B&B near Place Stanislas, or a modern apartment close to the train station.

Staying in the historic centre is ideal if you want to explore everything on foot, while the surrounding districts often provide quieter options at better value.

Use the map below to find the perfect place to stay in Nancy for your visit.

The Architecture of Nancy in 6 Periods

To travel through time, I’ve chosen to explore Nancy’s architecture in six major periods: the Middle Ages (Romanesque and Gothic), the Renaissance, the Baroque, the Neoclassical, Art Nouveau, then Art Deco and contemporary Nancy.

Medieval Nancy: Ramparts and Marshes

To begin our journey, we head straight for the Middle Ages. That’s where it all began – or nearly.

Picture a hamlet with the poetic name of Nanceiacum, a Roman road passing by, and presto: in the 11th century, Gérard of Alsace decides to plant his castle here.

And as often happens, the castle attracts houses, then walls, then a small town eager to grow. And so Nancy steps onto the stage.

When I was little, my grandmother often took me around the old town.

I loved strolling along the Grande-Rue, with its sober facades and cobblestones not exactly made for trainers.

But the star of the show was the Craffe Gate.

Imposing and severe, with its two great round towers staring at you like a pair of inquisitive eyes.

In medieval times, you didn’t saunter through with your hands in your pockets whistling a tune: this was 15th-century airport security, complete with portcullis, battlements and archers peering down at you from above.

A little further on stood the Church of the Cordeliers, founded by Duke René II after his victory over Charles the Bold.

As a child, I found the name “Cordeliers” rather mysterious – I half expected to see monks juggling with ropes - cordes in French… (spoiler: they weren’t circus performers, they simply wore a rope belt around their habit).

Inside, the atmosphere is striking, with its Gothic vaults and, above all, the tombs of the Dukes of Lorraine.

Almost as if the old church had turned into the family photo album of the dynasty.

And then, if you look closely, Nancy still hides a few rare traces of Romanesque art, such as the Commanderie Saint-Jean-du-Vieil-Aître.

Much less spectacular than the Craffe, but moving because of its sheer age.

Like a whisper from the distant 12th century, wedged between two more modern buildings.

Walking through the old town is therefore like stepping into a medieval stage set, where every stone has seen processions, fairs, battles – and no doubt plenty of gossip too (history doesn’t record exactly what the ladies of the 14th century gossiped about on their way to market, but I’ve got a fair idea).

Renaissance Nancy: When Italy Came to Lorraine

After the austere ramparts of the Middle Ages, it was time for flourishes and humanist beauty: welcome to the Renaissance!

No need to buy a ticket for Florence or Rome: Nancy gave itself a touch of Italy… with the Lorraine climate as a bonus (the facades are superb, but don’t forget your umbrella – this isn’t Tuscany).

The great architect of this transformation was René II, the duke who ended Charles the Bold’s ambitions at the Battle of Nancy in 1477.

That victory tasted of liberation – and it needed to be celebrated in stone.

He rebuilt the Ducal Palace, joined to the old fortress, and it remains one of the city’s jewels.

I love walking past its sculpted gatehouse: it feels like stepping through a history book carved in relief.

The arches, the columns, the delicate motifs… everything breathes the elegance of the early Renaissance.

When I photographed it during my last visit, I had to contort myself in all sorts of ways to get the right angle (much to the amusement of passers-by).

Not far away stands another gem: the Hôtel d’Haussonville.

A noble residence with corner turrets and an inner courtyard – perfect for imagining banquets where lords discussed politics over a good Moselle wine.

As a child, I didn’t yet have the keys to understand this refined style, but today I enjoy spotting every detail: a sculpted mascaron, an ornate lintel… It’s like a visual treasure hunt.

And then there is Place de la Carrière.

It, too, was born in the Renaissance, a long esplanade once used for jousts and tournaments.

Today, the knights have disappeared (thankfully, otherwise there’d be quite a few collisions with electric scooters), but the place retains an incredible majesty.

It’s a grand entrance that already hints at the urbanistic ambitions of the following century.

Walking through Renaissance Nancy, you sense the city breathing differently: less defensive, more focused on culture, prestige, and openness.

The dukes wanted a true capital – and you can see it on every facade.

Baroque and Classical Nancy: The Magic of Stanislas

The Renaissance had already given Nancy a princely air, but in the centuries that followed, the city truly put on its finery.

First with Duke Léopold in the early 18th century, eager to restore lustre to his capital scarred by the Thirty Years’ War.

And then, above all, with the one nobody expected: Stanislas Leszczyński, exiled King of Poland, father-in-law of Louis XV, and genius embellisher of Nancy.

But before we get to the most famous of adopted Nancéiens, a word about Lorraine Baroque.

Take the Church of Notre-Dame de Bonsecours, for example: it’s here that Stanislas chose to be buried, in a sanctuary where Baroque architecture takes on an almost theatrical air.

With its columns, ornaments and slightly solemn atmosphere, you feel everything was designed to impress the faithful.

In another vein, the Church of Saint-Sébastien, closer to Jesuit style, imposes itself with its symmetrical facade and harmonious proportions.

As for the little round chapel of the Cordeliers, it surprises with its unusual shape – as if an architect suddenly thought, “What if we made a circle instead of a rectangle?” (Baroque audacity already at work).

And then comes Stanislas, the visionary.

The man who united the old town and the new town, creating an urban ensemble unique in Europe.

The masterpiece of this project: Place Stanislas.

Ah, the famous “Place Stan”. For me, it was the cherry on the cake of childhood walks with my grandmother.

We would wander through the old town, look up at the Craffe Gate, pass the Ducal Palace, stroll along Place de la Carrière and suddenly – boom – emerge onto this golden square.

Today, free of traffic, the square reveals itself in all its splendour.

The Classical facades, perfectly symmetrical, form a setting of white stone.

Jean Lamour’s gilded wrought-iron gates add the flamboyant Rococo touch: true lacework of iron, sparkling in the sun (and even more magical at dawn, before the crowds arrive).

I remember my last photo session there: I must have stopped ten times, mesmerised by the golden arabesques against the Lorraine sky.

And that’s not all: Stanislas also redesigned Place de la Carrière in majestic Classical style, and created Place d’Alliance – more intimate, but just as elegant.

With this trio, Nancy effortlessly won its reputation as a capital of the Enlightenment.

Walking across Place Stanislas today is like stepping into an open-air ballroom.

You almost expect to hear a Mozart concerto, or at least the soft steps of an 18th-century dance.

Instead, you hear the conversations of astonished tourists (and sometimes the gleeful shouts of children spinning round and round the statue of Stanislas).

19th-Century Nancy: The Great Eclecticism

The 19th century was Nancy’s teenage phase: the city grew fast, sometimes too fast, and tried out every style in fashion.

It dipped into the past, mixed things up, and invented new forms.

The result? An eclectic city where every church, every facade tells of a different taste.

First, there’s the spectacular Basilica of Saint-Epvre.

As a child, I remember craning my neck up at that endless spire and wondering if it almost touched the clouds (answer: not quite, but nearly!).

Built in Neo-Gothic style, it seems determined to rival the great medieval cathedrals, with its stained-glass windows and spiky pinnacles.

Another striking example is the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, built in 1905 in the Romano-Byzantine style.

With its dome and rounded arches, it has the air of a little Montmartre transplanted into Lorraine.

The first time I saw it, I felt as though a piece of Constantinople had landed in Nancy.

That’s Nancy for you: an architectural surprise at every street corner.

And then there are the lesser-known churches, just as revealing of this architectural ferment, such as Saint-Léon or Saint-Fiacre, which testify to the growth of working-class districts as the city industrialised.

The railway (which arrived in 1850) and the Marne–Rhine Canal had catapulted Nancy into modernity.

The result: rapid growth, sprawling suburbs, and parishes multiplying to welcome the newcomers.

Walking through 19th-century Nancy feels like leafing through an architecture catalogue.

One page Neo-Gothic grandeur, the next Romano-Byzantine curves, sometimes a mix of both.

You sense the city wanted to impress, to climb onto the stage with the great French capitals.

And in a way, it worked: Nancy became a showcase of eastern France, all the more so after 1870, when Alsace and part of Moselle fell under German rule.

And me in all this? I must admit these grand churches fascinated me as a child, even if I couldn’t make sense of all the styles.

Today, with a camera in hand, I take real pleasure in hunting down the details: a grimacing gargoyle, a colourful mosaic, a stained glass window glowing when the sun decides to break through the Lorraine clouds (a meteorological phenomenon not to be missed!).

Belle Époque Nancy: The Intoxication of Art Nouveau

After the eclectic 19th century, Nancy entered its star period – the one that earned it a worldwide reputation: the Belle Époque and its incredible Art Nouveau.

Put simply, at that time, the city became a laboratory of creativity.

It all began with a historical drama: the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71.

Alsace and part of the Moselle département came under German control.

And suddenly, Nancy was propelled into the role of “capital of the East” on the French side.

Thousands of Alsatians and Lorrainers – industrialists, merchants, artists – came to settle here.

The city buzzed with new life.

And with them arrived new artistic ambitions.

Art Nouveau in Nancy meant the École de Nancy, brought together by Émile Gallé.

Around him gravitated architects such as Lucien Weissenburger, ironworkers (the Belle Époque heirs of Jean Lamour), glassmakers like the Daum brothers… all united by a vision: to create total art, where everything – from a house facade down to a door handle – embodied beauty and nature.

The absolute symbol: the Villa Majorelle.

Built in 1902 for cabinetmaker Louis Majorelle, it’s a poem in brick, wood and wrought iron.

Its lines ripple like plant stems, its stained-glass windows recall flowers, and the interior is a manifesto of Art Nouveau.

When I visited the villa, I felt as though I’d stepped into a living set, where every detail whispered: “nothing is straight, everything is movement.”

Even the staircases seemed ready to dance.

But Art Nouveau didn’t stop at private villas: it found its way into shops, brasseries, and banks.

A delicious (and splendid) example: the Brasserie Excelsior.

You enter as though into a temple of the Belle Époque: great glass windows, carved wood panelling, mosaics, chandeliers… and hearty Lorraine dishes to match (believe me, a slice of tourte lorraine in that setting takes on a whole new grandeur!).

And then there’s the Saurupt district, conceived as an Art Nouveau garden city.

You can still find numerous villas with daring lines.

Some look like fairy-tale houses, others like habitable sculptures.

You feel like knocking on the door and asking: “Excuse me, would you happen to have a cup of Art Nouveau tea to share?”

The climax of this period was the International Exhibition of Eastern France, held in 1909 in Parc Sainte-Marie.

Entire pavilions were built to display Lorraine’s artistic and industrial know-how.

It was a way of proving to neighbouring Germany that France still had genius to spare.

Nancy shone internationally, almost like a miniature Paris of the East.

For me, Belle Époque Nancy is a waking dream.

On every visit, I feel as though I’m rediscovering a hidden facade, a delicate ironwork, a forgotten stained-glass window.

Camera in hand, I could spend hours just hunting down arabesques.

And sometimes I wonder whether the villa residents realise how lucky they are to live inside a masterpiece… or whether, for them, it’s just “the house that creaks a bit but we love it all the same.”

Art Deco and Modern Nancy: Between Elegance and Concrete

After the swirling curves of Art Nouveau, Nancy once again changed its face in the interwar years.

The mood shifted to geometry, to clean lines, to facades that played the “less is more” card long before it became a slogan.

Welcome to the era of Art Deco.

It’s impossible to miss the Magasins Réunis, that immense ship of concrete and glass inaugurated in 1928.

Today it houses the FNAC and the Printemps department store, but back then it was the temple of chic shopping – a sort of ancestor of our shopping centres, but with a tremendous sense of elegance.

When you look at its facade, rhythmically framed by massive columns and vast windows, you think that even buying a pair of socks there must once have felt like a ceremony.

Another witness to this style is the university library on Place Carnot.

Its regular volumes, its stylised decoration, breathe that Art Deco spirit which sought to unite function and beauty.

A time when even buildings devoted to study were allowed to be beautiful – a fine motivation for students (at least… in theory).

But the 20th century didn’t stop there.

With post-war reconstruction, and then the great waves of modernisation in the 1950s and 60s, Nancy acquired an architecture that was more… how shall we say… utilitarian.

The station district, for instance, mixes 19th-century buildings, Art Nouveau heritage and modern housing blocks.

The Saint-Sébastien shopping centre, built in the 1970s, symbolises the will to modernise at any cost.

No, it may not be Nancy’s most photogenic corner, but that too is part of urban history: choices made (and sometimes regretted).

And then there’s the Haut-du-Lièvre, that immense housing block built between 1958 and 1961, long considered the longest in Europe.

Not exactly charming, but a fascinating witness to an era when people firmly believed concrete would solve the housing crisis.

Today, the district has changed; some blocks have been demolished, but it remains in the memory of Nancéiens as a symbol of modernity (and sometimes as a lively topic for debate).

To be honest, modern Nancy doesn’t always have the grace of Baroque or Art Nouveau Nancy.

But that’s part of its interest: the city never stopped.

It kept experimenting, growing, reinventing itself.

And by walking from the Craffe Gate to Saint-Sébastien, you traverse a thousand years of architecture – without changing your shoes.

Conclusion: Nancy, a Thousand Years of Open-Air History

Each time I return to Nancy, I feel the same sensation: as though I were walking through an immense open-air museum… only without the guards telling you “don’t touch”.

Here, history isn’t locked away behind glass: it’s under your feet, above your head, in the facades that recount a thousand years of urban life.

From the medieval severity of the Craffe Gate to the golden lacework of Jean Lamour, from the flowing lines of the Villa Majorelle to the sober forms of Art Deco, Nancy has experienced it all, tried it all.

Sometimes with brilliance, sometimes with a little too much concrete, but always with that ability to reinvent itself.

That’s no doubt why I feel such a deep attachment to my birthplace.

As a child, I discovered it hand in hand with my grandmother, wide-eyed at Place Stanislas and thrilled to pass under the Craffe.

Today, when I rediscover it with my camera, the emotion is still there.

As if every stone, every gilded gate, every stained-glass window whispered to me: “You are home.”

So if you pass through Nancy, don’t try to see it all at once.

Let yourself be surprised. Look up, get a little lost, play the explorer.

Because in the end, visiting Nancy is like travelling back in time without a machine or a vortex. A simple walk will do.

And who knows? Perhaps you, too, will leave with that strange impression that Nancy is an old friend… an old friend who rather enjoys a makeover every century.

Find out more about Nancy

Here are a few links to blog posts and websites that will give you more info about Nancy:

• 2 days in Nancy: where to go and what to see
• Top 10 things to see in Nancy, Lorraine
• Discover the magnificence of Place Stanislas in Nancy
• Why you should spend Christmas in Nancy
• Take the NANCY Quizz!!
• The site of the Tourist Board of Destination Nancy
• Book your accommodation in Nancy here...