The Art Nouveau capital of France and home to the most beautiful square in Europe — where a Polish king-in-exile built the UNESCO-listed Place Stanislas in gold wrought iron and white stone, and Émile Gallé's glass workshops birthed a movement that changed decorative art worldwide
Nancy (104,000; metro 430,000) in Lorraine is France's capital of Art Nouveau — the École de Nancy (1901) of Émile Gallé, Louis Majorelle, and the Daum brothers produced glass, furniture, and ironwork that defined the movement internationally. The Place Stanislas (1752–1755, UNESCO World Heritage Site) is a gilded Baroque ensemble of wrought-iron fountains and gates built by former Polish king Stanisław I Leszczyński during his French exile; it is regularly cited as the most beautiful plaza in France. The Villa Majorelle (1901–1902) and the Musée de l'École de Nancy house the most comprehensi…
Nancy became the capital of the Duchy of Lorraine in the 13th century and grew into a significant cultural centre under Duke Charles III (reigned 1559–1608), who commissioned a new Renaissance-planned town. The Battle of Nancy (1477) — where Charles the Bold of Burgundy was killed — ended Burgundian ambitions and established Lorraine's independence from both France and the Habsburg Empire. Lorraine and Alsace were temporarily annexed by France in 1648 (Treaty of Westphalia) and again in 1766, when Stanisław I's death ended the Polish exile arrangement. The region was annexed by Germany follow…