Stanislas Leszczynski
,
Émile Gallé
or
Jean Prouvé
are names whose imprint aesthetically orders the visit to Nancy.
Encouraged by universities (a third of its little more than 100,000 inhabitants are students), by the inertia of a working-class and punk past, by a popular gastronomic impulse (from authentic
quiche
to
macarons)
and, above all, by its enormous linked to the visual arts, architecture, forging or design, the French city is the ideal place to put into practice the pleasure of discoveries.
enlarge photo cova fdez.
9.00.
A visionary king
It is inevitable to start at
Place Stanislas (1)
, which joins the
Neuve
and the
Vielle
Nancy, a center to which you will return again and again and which you will end up calling Stan.
A very Versailles front door.
Until 1789 it was called Place Royale and it had a sculpture in honor of
Louis XV in its center
.
With the Revolution it was renamed
the People's Square
and, with the Restoration, in 1831, it incorporated the statue of Stanislas and the current name.
King of Poland, last Duke of Lorraine, and benefactor of the city who ruled between 1737 and 1766,
Stanislas is everything in Nancy
.
In fact, it is said that he invented
baba au rhum
and cupcakes.
He also created the first hospital and the first public library.
Passionate about neoclassical architecture, he transformed Nancy by giving rise to three squares that have been world heritage sites since 1986 and that are visited as if one were the consequence of the other: Stanislas,
Carrière
and
Alliance
.
This imperial Nancy is far too pleasant to rush and gives thought to the history of cupcakes.
King Stanislas was at his Commercy estate.
The official pastry chef resigned from his position and was inherited by a young woman who offered a sweet that so dazzled Stan that he asked her name: Madeleine Perraine, she said, and the dessert kept her name.
In the immediate vicinity, look out for the historic
Maison des Soeurs Macarons
, where you can taste the most emblematic sweet.
11.00.
Charming villas
At the end of the 19th century, the
art nouveau
movement
,
inspired by the organic forms of nature, came to the city to stay.
There was so much creativity, so much what was built, painted and designed that it gave to found the
École de Nancy (2)
, a school that has a museum and several masterpieces.
Émile Gallé was its first president, and he gave the movement a pedagogical vision.
The objective was to take advantage of the booming iron and steel industry and promote the glass and cabinet making trades.
A tour of the
museum
reveals how formal and decorative searches and the desire to embellish everyday life came together.
Illustrious pieces appear one by one (furniture by Louis Majorelle, paintings by Victor Prouvé or stained glass windows by Jacques Grüber) that explain why Nancy is the capital of
art nouveau
in France.
enlarge photo The Villa Majorelle, a jewel of 'art nouveau'.
S. LEVAILLANT
The museum is an aperitif of the buildings of the
Parc de Saurupt (3)
(pay attention to the Villa les Glycines and the Villa des Roches of the omnipresent Émile André) or the obligatory visit to the
Villa Majorelle (4)
, the work of the architect Henri Sauvage ( 1901-1902).
Big words.
13.00.
Quiche Lorraine to eat
Modernism is a good preamble to understand Jean Prouvé (Paris, 1901-Nancy, 1984), the greatest
builder,
forger, blacksmith, engineer and self-taught architect of the 20th century.
A genius who learned from the perseverance of the worker (here he opened his workshop in 1924) and from the inventiveness of the artists that he saw in the gatherings organized by his father, Victor Prouvé, "official" painter of the École de Nancy, who also promoted that Émile Gallé was his godfather.
In the central cemetery of Nancy there are three chapels with his signature on the iron doors: Émile Bachelet, Roch and Vilgrain, in addition to the tomb of the Prouvé family.
Another evocation of his is the intervention carried out in the extension of the
L'Excelsior
brasserie
(5)
in 1931. The prodigious reform of the staircase, the railing and the lighting is
a stainless steel poem
that is reflected in the mirror to radiate one of its constants:
simplicity
.
While we are here, we take the opportunity to eat between scrolls and ceilings, in a Viennese-style room ideal to indulge in the
quiche Lorraine
and the
baba au rhum, the
star dessert of the house, not by chance called “Douceur du roi Stanislas”.
The king liked to finish his meals with
kouglof,
a cake
topped
with
tokaji,
Hungarian white wine.
One day when there was no more left, he asked to be bathed in the cheapest alcohol they had on hand.
It was rum.
And not only did he like it.
The master glassmaker Jacques Grüber reached his creative zenith as a professor at the École de Nancy, in whose Nancy museum 'Veranda', an ode to nature, is exhibited.
ALAMY
16.00.
Following a genius
Claude Prouvé, one of Jean Prouvé's sons, inherited his passion for architecture and his loyalty to this city.
His is one of the most decisive buildings of contemporary Nancy: the
Palais des Congrès or Center Prouvé
(1 Place de la République)
(6)
, in which it is enough to observe the metal pilotis to feel the influence of the father.
Back in the central area of Stan, the
Museum of Fine Arts
(7)
dedicates to Prouvé a room that explains better than any manual the solidary tenacity of a man who, after World War II, became mayor of Nancy.
His vision of the world did not allow him to last more than six months in office.
Here are the original desks he created for post-war public schools and much of his celebrated furniture that so well combines strength and finesse.
Also closed for the pandemic until further notice, on Rue Augustin Hacquard is the
Maison de Jean Prouvé
, which he built for his family and in which he lived until 1984.
18.00.
Claims of the old area
The
Pépinière park (8)
is a respite and a wonderful preamble to the
vielle
Nancy, full of
attractions such
as the
Porte de la Craffe (9)
, the
Cordeliers church (10)
, the
L'Abri du Temps
bookstore
(11)
or the neo-Gothic basilica of
St. Epvre (12)
and the lively square that it shadows.
To follow the trail of Jean Prouvé there is still the impressive
Museum of the History of Iron
(13)
, his son's building with a very interesting space dedicated to his father.
If Place Stanislas was a great gateway to Nancy, this place, with the original portico that Jean Prouvé built for Orly Airport in 1958, is a great gateway.
Of course, before leaving you have to drop by number 9
Rue de la Primatiale
and taste all the wines you need in
L'Echanson (14)
.
And, of course, enjoy dinner at
Les Frères Marchand
(99 Grande Rue)
(15)
, a
festive family
brasserie
that transports the traveler to an undeniable world of vital abundance.
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