Nancy[a] is theprefecture of the northeasternFrench department ofMeurthe-et-Moselle, located in theGrand Est region (in the historical region ofLorraine). The city is situated on the left bank of theMeurthe. The metropolitan area of Nancy had a population of 508,793 inhabitants as of 2021, making it the 16th-largestfunctional urban area in France and Lorraine's largest.[6] The population of the city of Nancy proper is 104,387 (2022).
The origins of the city date back to the 11th century, when a fortified town was established byGerard, Duke of Lorraine. Nancy developed into the ducal seat of theDuchy of Lorraine, a position it held until the duchy was annexed byFrance under KingLouis XV in 1766 and replaced by aprovince, with Nancy maintained as capital. The city’s Old Town (Vieille Ville), centered around theDucal Palace of Nancy, reflects this long history, while the 18th-century Ville-Neuve bears witness to a period of ambitious urban planning underStanislaus I of Poland. His patronage produced some of the city’s most notable monuments, including thePlace Stanislas, a large square built between 1752 and 1756 by architectEmmanuel Héré, today inscribed on theUNESCO World Heritage List.
Following its rise to prominence in theAge of Enlightenment, it was nicknamed the "capital of Eastern France" in the late 19th century. Nancy became an important industrial and cultural hub in the 19th and early 20th centuries, especially during theArt Nouveau period. TheÉcole de Nancy, a collective of artists and architects led by figures such asÉmile Gallé andVictor Prouvé, made the city a centre of innovation indecorative arts and design. Its legacy is still visible today in numerous buildings, glassworks, and collections.
In the present day, Nancy is a regional centre for culture, science, and education. It hosts theUniversity of Lorraine, one of the largest French universities. With the Centre Hospitalier Régional Universitaire de Brabois, the conurbation is home to one of the main health centres in Europe, renowned for its innovations in surgical robotics. Notable cultural institutions include theMusée des Beaux-Arts de Nancy and theOpéra national de Lorraine. The motto of the city isNon inultus premor (Latin for 'I am not injured unavenged')[7]—a reference to the thistle, which is a symbol of Lorraine.
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 riverMeurthe. Its name is first attested asNanciaco, possibly from a Gaulish personal name. A small fortified town named Nanciacum (Nancy) was built byGérard, Duke of Lorraine around 1050.
The exiled Polish kingStanislaus I (Stanisław Leszczyński in Polish), father-in-law of the French kingLouis 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. On the south side of the Place Stanislaus is theHôtel de Ville, which was completed in 1755.[8] Upon Stanislaus' death in February 1766,Lorraine and Barrois became a regular government of theKingdom of France.[9] Aparlement for Lorraine and Barrois was established in Nancy in 1776.[9]
As unrest surfaced within the French Armed Forces during theFrench Revolution, a full-scale mutiny, known as theNancy 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 1988, PopeJohn Paul II visited Nancy. In 2005, French PresidentJacques Chirac, German ChancellorGerhard Schröder and Polish PresidentAleksander Kwaśniewski inaugurated the renovated Place Stanislas, which was recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983.
Nancy is situated on the left bank of the riverMeurthe, about 10 km upstream from its confluence with theMoselle. TheMarne–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: 15 km2. 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 andVillers-lès-Nancy.
The population of the city proper experienced a small decrease in population since 2007, placing it behindMetz as the second largest city in the Lorraine.[10] 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).
Nancy has anoceanic climate (Köppen:Cfb), although a bit more extreme than most of the largerFrench cities.[11] By the standards of France it is a "continental" climate with a certain degree of maritime (unrelated to theKöppen classification, since generally the whole country has a predominant mechanism favored by theWest winds).[12][13]
The temperatures have a distinct variation of thetemperate 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 asStrasbourg (most similar weather conditions).[14] Although the lowest recorded temperature is officially −26.8 °C, some sources consider temperatures from −30 °C on 10 December 1879 before continuous data.[15]
Comparison of local Meteorological data with other cities in France[16]
The old city centre’s heritage dates from the Middle Ages to the 18th century. Thecathedral of Nancy, the Triumphal Arch and the "Place de la Carrière" are a fine examples of 18th-century architecture.[28] ThePalace of the Dukes of Lorraine is the former princely residence of the rulers. The palace houses theMusée Lorrain.
The "École de Nancy", a group of artists and architects founded by the glassmaster and furniture makerÉmile Gallé, worked in theArt 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 theMusée de l'École de Nancy, which is housed in the 1909 villa ofEugène 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 majorbotanical garden, theJardin botanique du Montet, is located at Villers-lès-Nancy. Other gardens of interest include the city's earliest botanical garden, theJardin 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.
Museum of Fine Arts of Nancy (Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nancy) with painters from the 15th to 20th centuries, and a huge collection ofDaum 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.[31]
Nancy is home to two of the three professional sport clubs in Lorraine:AS Nancy-Lorraine in football andSLUC 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 recentlyAS 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.
A nearby regional airportMetz–Nancy–Lorraine Airport, halfway between Metz and Nancy, provides scheduled air service to several cities in France and some North African countries. The nearest international airport isEuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg, located 206 km (128 mi) south east of the city.
Public transport within Nancy is provided byService de Transport de l'Agglomération Nancéienne (STAN),[50] operated since 2019 byKeolis and including around 20 conventional bus routes and onetrolleybus route. TheNancy trolleybus system has been in operation since 1982, originally with six routes. From 2001 until early 2023, the one remaining route was known as theTram by STAN, because it usedBombardier Transportation'sGuided Light Transit (GLT) technology. The system was replaced by conventional unguided trolleybuses, entering service on 5 April 2025.[51]
The coat of arms of Nancy displays athistle, originally considered to be a symbol ofVirgin Mary, and adopted as a personal symbol byRené of Anjou and later by his descendantRené II, Duke of Lorraine. Contrary to the Scottish thistle, the one of Lorraine is always shown with its roots. During the wars againstBurgundy, 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 whenCharles III, Duke of Lorraine granted the city with its own coat of arms.[52]
At first, the coat of arms of Nancy had achief of Lorraine, which meant that the upper part showed the ducal arms, namely threealerions 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 theKingdom of Hungary, theKingdom of Naples, theKingdom of Jerusalem and theCrown of Aragon, while the lower row comprises theDuchy of Anjou, theDuchy of Guelders, theDuchy of Jülich and theCounty of Bar. The inescutcheon is the coat of arms of Lorraine itself.[52]
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 thethistle. The coat of arms further displays theLegion of Honour, awarded to the city after theFirst World War, and theWar Crosses 14–18 and 39–45.[52]
^abPoupardin, René (1911)."Lorraine" . InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 9–12, see page 12, lines 3 and 4:= " At his death in February 1766 the two duchies of Lorraine and Bar became definitively incorporated in the kingdom of France.".
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