Explorer Nancy

Place Stanislas is a pedestrian square in Nancy, laid out by Emmanuel Héré in 1752–1755 for Stanislas Leszczyński, former King of Poland and Duke of Lorraine. The town hall, the opera house and the fine arts museum line its sides, with gilded wrought-iron gates by Jean Lamour, and it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983.

The Museum of Fine Arts of Nancy occupies the former Royal College of Medicine, an 18th-century pavilion on Place Stanislas extended in 1936 and 1999. It shows European painting from Perugino, Caravaggio and Rubens to Delacroix, Manet and Picasso, a large collection of Daum glass in the old bastion below, and a gallery devoted to Jean Prouvé.

Nancy Cathedral was begun in 1703 under Duke Leopold to plans by Giovanni Betto, revised by Jules Hardouin-Mansart and completed by Germain Boffrand; the first Mass was held in 1742. The classical interior has a dome painted by Claude Jacquart, chapel gates by Jean Lamour and a great organ rebuilt by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll in 1861.

Villa Majorelle was built in 1901–1902 by the architect Henri Sauvage as the home and studio of the furniture maker Louis Majorelle, and is one of the first Art Nouveau houses in France. Owned by the city and restored before reopening in 2020, it shows furniture from Majorelle's workshops, ceramics by Alexandre Bigot and stained glass by Jacques Gruber.

The Musée de l'École de Nancy is devoted to the École de Nancy, the Art Nouveau movement founded in 1901 by Émile Gallé, Louis Majorelle, Antonin Daum, Victor Prouvé and Eugène Vallin. Housed in the former home of the patron Eugène Corbin, it shows furniture, glass, ceramics and stained glass, and has an aquarium pavilion in its garden.