Nancy

Nancy began in the 11th century as a fortified town founded by Gerard, Duke of Lorraine, and grew into the seat of the dukes. Its great moment of medieval history came in 1477, when Charles the Bold of Burgundy was defeated and killed outside its walls at the Battle of Nancy and René II secured the duchy; the thistle he adopted as his emblem is still on the city's coat of arms. The Ducal Palace and the Porte de la Craffe survive from this ducal town.

In the 18th century the duchy was given to Stanislas Leszczyński, the exiled king of Poland and father-in-law of Louis XV of France. His patronage produced the city's most notable monuments: between 1752 and 1756 the architect Emmanuel Héré built the Place Stanislas, part of an ensemble with the Place de la Carrière and the Place d'Alliance. When Stanislas died in February 1766 Lorraine became part of the kingdom of France, with Nancy kept as the capital of the province.

In 1871, when Germany annexed Alsace and part of Lorraine, Nancy remained French, and by the late 19th century it was known as the "capital of eastern France". It was also the home of the École de Nancy, the Art Nouveau movement founded in 1901 by Émile Gallé, Victor Prouvé, Louis Majorelle, Antonin Daum and Eugène Vallin. In September 1944 the US Third Army liberated the city. The squares were listed by UNESCO in 1983, and the restored Place Stanislas was reopened in 2005 by the leaders of France, Germany and Poland.

Two periods define Nancy's look: the 18th-century ensemble of Stanislas, and the Art Nouveau of the École de Nancy. Gallé's glass and furniture, Majorelle's furniture, Daum's crystal and Jacques Grüber's stained glass made the city one of the major centres of the movement in Europe, and its legacy survives in the Musée de l'École de Nancy and the Villa Majorelle. The Museum of Fine Arts, one of the oldest in France, adds a large Daum collection and a gallery devoted to the designer Jean Prouvé.

The city has a strong cultural calendar. Le Livre sur la Place opens the literary season every September, Nancy Jazz Pulsations has filled October since the 1970s, and the Opéra national de Lorraine stands in the 18th-century quarter around the Place Stanislas. In early December the city celebrates Saint Nicholas, patron saint of Lorraine since 1477, with a parade, and the nearby basilica of Saint-Nicolas-de-Port has long been a place of pilgrimage.

Sport has its own history. AS Nancy-Lorraine won the French Cup in 1978 with Michel Platini as captain and scorer of the only goal of the final, and counts Arsène Wenger and Aimé Jacquet among its former figures; SLUC Nancy won the last Korać Cup in basketball in 2002 and the French championship in 2008.

About 104,000 people lived in the city proper in 2022, and about 509,000 in the metropolitan area in 2021 — the largest urban area in Lorraine, even though the city itself is slightly smaller than Metz. The city's population has dipped slightly in recent years while its suburbs have grown.

Education is a major economic driver: the University of Lorraine is one of the largest in France, and the city had about 52,000 students in 2020. The city is also the prefecture of Meurthe-et-Moselle, the seat of a bishop and a regional centre for hospitals and services.

Public transport changed recently: the unusual guided-tram line closed in 2023 and was replaced in 2025 by long trolleybuses that run on batteries through the historic centre to avoid overhead wires. Residents shop at the central market, meet on the squares and in the bars of the old town and rue Stanislas, and use the Pépinière and Parc Sainte-Marie in summer. Outer suburban communes grew with new housing in the 1980s and 1990s.

The quiche lorraine is the region's variant of the quiche: a pastry case filled with savoury custard and lardons or bacon, served hot, warm or cold. Nancy itself is known for two sweets: its macarons, and bergamotes, sweets flavoured with the essential oil of the bergamot orange.

The covered central market, at the heart of a pedestrian quarter around Place Charles III, is the place for local produce, and the bars nearby include some known for speciality beers. Products made from mirabelle plums are another local speciality.

For eating out, the Grande Rue in the old town has a string of small restaurants, rue Stanislas leading off the Place Stanislas has bars and casual places, and the terraces of the great squares fill on summer evenings. Several bars near the Place Stanislas and the market specialise in beer, Belgian beers especially, and the city's students keep the cheaper restaurants and bars busy throughout the year.