Free Walking Tour Nancy: Stanislas to the Old Town

Your Nancy Walking Tour Through Squares, Palaces and the Old Town

1. 1

   Nancy Cathedral

   

   Start in front of a facade that looks more Roman than French. Nancy Cathedral is baroque and classical through and through: Corinthian columns and pilasters outside, the same Corinthian order inside. The first architect, Giovan Betto, took his ideas from the church of Sant'Andrea della Valle in Rome; Jules Hardouin-Mansart and Germain Boffrand then reworked his plans. Building began in 1703 under Duke Leopold I of Lorraine and was finished in 1742.

   Look at the space between the two towers and imagine a great central dome rising behind them. That is what the spacing and the length of the nave were designed for. The dome never came; in the end the church got a simpler dome and a pediment with a clock, which is what you see today.

   The name tells a political story. In the early 17th century the Duchy of Lorraine was independent in politics but answered spiritually to the bishoprics of Metz, Toul and Verdun. Nancy had no bishop of its own, so Duke Charles III persuaded the pope to appoint a primate instead, and the church was known as the primatial church of Nancy. It only became a cathedral in 1777, when Nancy got its first bishop, after Lorraine had passed to France and King Stanislas had died.

   Go inside: it is free, and the interior is the reason to come. The nave is 60 metres long and 13.5 metres wide, with massive pillars dressed in Corinthian pilasters, and the effect as you walk in is calm and balanced rather than showy. The plan is a Latin cross, with three chapels on each side and the organ set in a half bay above the entrance.

   From here it is 370 m, about 5 minutes on foot, to Place Stanislas, the square that Leopold's successor built to make Nancy look like a capital.

   Hours

   Mon–Sat 08:45–19:00, Sun 10:45–20:00 (during French school holidays, Mon–Sat opening pushed back to 10:00)

   Price

   Free

   Website

   nancy-tourisme.fr ↗

   Location

   Nancy Cathedral on Google Maps ↗

2. 2

   Place Stanislas

   

   Place Stanislas, or simply Place Stan to locals, was built between 1751 and 1755 for Stanislas Leszczyński, Duke of Lorraine, under the direction of his architect Emmanuel Héré. Together with its neighbouring squares it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983, and in 2021 a French television vote named it the country's favourite monument.

   Stand in the middle and you may be surprised: at 106 by 124 metres it is not especially large. Bordeaux has a square of 12 hectares, and even here in Nancy, Place de la Carrière is more extensive. What makes Place Stanislas special is not its size but its design and its job in the city. It was built to stitch together two districts that had grown up separately, the medieval old town and the newer town, and to give them one shared centre.

   Notice how coherent everything is. The architecture belongs to the capital of a royal court rather than a provincial town, and that was the point. When it was built, Lorraine was still an independent duchy, and this unified, carefully planned ensemble was a statement of ducal power.

   The square has changed name and central statue several times as French history swung back and forth; it has carried its present name since 1831. It is open at all hours and costs nothing, so take your time crossing it, then head for the arch at its far side.

   Through the Arc Héré and along Rue Héré it is 290 m, about 4 minutes, to Place de la Carrière.

   Hours

   Open 24/7

   Price

   Free

   Website

   nancy-tourisme.fr ↗

   Location

   Place Stanislas on Google Maps ↗

3. 3

   Place de la Carrière

   

   Place de la Carrière is long and narrow, lined on its west and east sides with two rows of plane trees and enclosed by a low wall. At each of its four corners stands a fountain with figures of children, and tall wrought iron railings close off its southern and northern ends. It belongs to the UNESCO ensemble together with Place Stanislas and Place d'Alliance.

   It is much older than its neighbour. The square was laid out in the 16th century, when the city's medieval fortifications were moved, and noble families built their town palaces around it. The name gives away its first use: this was an arena for tournaments and equestrian games.

   At the end of the 17th century, French occupying troops broke a gate through the city walls to connect the old town with the new town growing outside the fortifications to the south. In the middle of the 18th century Stanislas went further and decided to join the two towns for good with a new centre. Place de la Carrière was harmonised as part of that plan and now forms a visual axis running from the ducal palace to the Palais du Gouvernement.

   Walk to the northern end and look at the two semicircular colonnades on either side, decorated with statues and busts of the Olympian gods. Before them stand two mansions in the French Renaissance style, the Hôtel Héré and the Hôtel de Morvilliers, which close the rows of buildings along the square.

   The palace that ends the axis is only 140 m away, a 2-minute walk.

   Hours

   Open 24/7

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Place de la Carrière on Google Maps ↗

4. 4

   Palais du Gouvernement

   

   The classical building in front of you is the Palais du Gouvernement, also called the Governor's Palace, an 18th-century mansion with its own garden. Its story begins with a palace that was never finished.

   Duke Leopold I found the old ducal palace cramped, gloomy and outdated, and commissioned Germain Boffrand to build a new one with its main facade on Place de la Carrière. To make room, Boffrand did not hesitate to tear down the choir of the collegiate church of Saint-Georges and outbuildings of the old palace. The first stones of the project, nicknamed the New Louvre, were laid in 1715.

   Then tragedy stopped it. In 1723 Leopold's young heir, Prince Léopold-Clément, died. The grieving duke no longer left Lunéville, and the grand project stalled. After Leopold's death in 1728, his widow Élisabeth-Charlotte d'Orléans, regent for their son and short of money, did not resume the work. Stanislas, the deposed king of Poland whom his son-in-law Louis XV placed at the head of the duchies, also lived at Lunéville, and the New Louvre fell into ruin.

   In 1739 the site passed to the town. What was left of the unfinished palace was demolished, apart from a few false arcades that are still visible in the garden of today's palace, along the Musée Lorrain. Stanislas then had Héré build a new residence here, the New Intendance, for his chancellor Antoine-Martin Chaumont de La Galaizière. The grounds are free to enter.

   Now leave the 18th century behind: the Porte de la Craffe is 400 m away, about 5 minutes, and on the way you pass the Musée Lorrain.

   Hours

   06:30–22:00 (1 Apr-30 Jun), 06:30–00:00 (1 Jul-31 Oct), 06:30–20:00 (1 Nov-31 Mar), same hours as the neighbouring Parc de la Pépinière

   Price

   Free

   Website

   nancy-tourisme.fr ↗

   Location

   Palais du Gouvernement on Google Maps ↗

5. 5

   Porte de la Craffe

   

   The Porte de la Craffe is what remains of Nancy before the dukes started building squares: a fortified gate from the 14th century at the northern edge of the old town. It closes off the Grande Rue and links it with Rue de la Citadelle. A square central tower holds the gate itself, flanked by two taller round towers with conical roofs. The walls, of dressed stone with red brick in the lower parts, are three metres thick.

   Look up at the front. Above the pointed archway sits a niche with a 14th-century statue of the Virgin and Child, framed by two windows. On either side, two helmeted profiles in relief face each other: Duke Raoul on the west and Duke Jean on the east. A Lorraine thistle crowns the niche, and above it rises the cross of Lorraine, surrounded by a band of Gothic machicolations.

   Beside the cross, two more helmeted heads look at each other. The inscriptions name them as Charles II, who defeated Louis d'Orléans at the Battle of Champigneulles in July 1407, and René II, who beat Charles the Bold at the Battle of Nancy in January 1477. The gate is a little hall of fame for the dukes who kept Lorraine independent.

   Then look at the round towers: their windows allowed defenders to fire in every direction, and on the highest ones you can still see the stone corbels that once carried wooden shutters, long gone. The gate is open and free, so walk through the passage and look at it from the northern side too.

   From here, follow the Grande Rue back through the old town for 390 m, about 5 minutes, to the Basilique Saint-Épvre.

   Hours

   Open 24/7

   Price

   Free

   Website

   nancy-tourisme.fr ↗

   Location

   Porte de la Craffe on Google Maps ↗

6. 6

   Basilique Saint-Épvre

   

   Your walk ends at the Basilique Saint-Épvre on its square in the old town, a neo-Gothic church in the Rayonnant style by the architect Prosper Morey. It looks medieval but is a 19th-century building, and the third church on this spot. Duke Thierry II of Lorraine founded the parish in 1080, and the church is dedicated to Saint Epvre, or Aprus, of Toul, whose relics are kept in a shrine in the altar. Until the late 19th century it was sometimes called Saint-Épure.

   The second church, rebuilt in the Flamboyant Gothic style between 1436 and 1451, had a spire that doubled as a watchtower, since it was the highest point of the medieval town. In 1862 a competition was held for a new church, judged first in Nancy and then by a commission in Paris. Oddly, Morey won with a design he had withdrawn from the competition himself. The old church came down in 1863; the watchtower was meant to be kept, but it lasted only a few years and was demolished in 1867.

   The money came from a remarkable fundraiser, Monsignor Joseph Trouillet. From 1865 he collected donations, won the support of Napoleon III and the old nobility of Lorraine, and even received Franz Joseph of Habsburg-Lorraine, who visited the building site on 22 October 1867 with his brothers Karl Ludwig and Ludwig Viktor. That earned Trouillet the nickname king of the beggars and beggar of kings.

   The church was consecrated in 1871 by Joseph Foulon, bishop of Nancy, raised to a minor basilica by Pope Pius IX on 26 November 1874 and finished in 1875. During the First World War it was hit by bombs. Entry is free, and stepping inside is worth it for anyone who wants to see how the 19th century imagined the Gothic.

   This is the end of the route. If you want to return to the cathedral, the GPS navigation in your browser leads you back.

   Hours

   Mon–Sat 08:00–18:00, Sun 08:00–19:00

   Price

   Free

   Website

   saint-epvre.hautetfort.com ↗

   Location

   Basilique Saint-Épvre on Google Maps ↗

Shorter Ways Through Nancy

Short on time? These two cuts keep the strongest parts of the route and still work on foot.

The UNESCO squares only

Stops: 2, 3, 4

For a first look at Nancy or a gap between trains and meals: Place Stanislas, Place de la Carrière and the Palais du Gouvernement. Only 6 minutes of walking between them, and nothing costs entry. Plan around an hour with time to stand and look.

Palace to old town

Stops: 4, 5, 6

For anyone who already knows Place Stanislas or prefers medieval stone to baroque gilding: from the Palais du Gouvernement to the Porte de la Craffe and on to the Basilique Saint-Épvre. That is 10 minutes of walking, all free, including the basilica interior.

How Long This Nancy Tour Takes, Walking and Looking

The route runs as a line, not a loop: from the cathedral north through the three linked squares of Stanislas, then into the old town to the Porte de la Craffe and back down to Saint-Épvre. Pure walking time is 21 minutes for the whole 1.6 km.

With a proper look inside both churches, time to cross the squares slowly and a pause at the gate, count on about two hours. The squares-only variant takes around an hour; the palace to old town variant a little less, since its 10 minutes of walking leave most of the time for the basilica and the gate.

Before You Set Off in Nancy

• Start: Nancy Cathedral is the recommended start, because the route then builds from the 18th-century churches to the great squares. You can join at any stop.
• Finish: The walk ends at the Basilique Saint-Épvre in the old town. If you want to return to the cathedral, the GPS navigation in your browser leads you back.
• Time of day: Go in the daytime so both churches are open; the squares and the Porte de la Craffe are accessible at any hour.
• Entry: None of the six stops charges entry, so the whole walk costs nothing unless you choose the AI Tour Guide.

Common Questions About Walking Nancy