Église des Cordeliers de Nancy

Nancy

On 5 January 1477 René II, having set out before dawn from Saint-Nicolas-de-Port, surprised the army of Charles the Bold on its flank and destroyed it; the duke of Burgundy died, Lorraine remained independent, and Saint Nicholas became officially the patron of the duchy. René II would pay for that day three times over: with the church of Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours on the battlefield, with the great church of Port, and with this one, raised against his palace and consecrated in 1487 for the Franciscans, whom Lorraine calls Cordeliers. The exterior is of a Franciscan plainness; the interior is a single nave of seventy-three metres by nine, lined with chapels where the dukes sleep. Before the altar, on the right, the polychrome funerary recess of René II mixes the late Gothic and the Renaissance; the altar carries a retable of 1522; one bay of frescoes survives in the choir. In 1743, the collegiate church of Saint-Georges having been destroyed, the tombs of the dukes of Lorraine were brought here, and the church became their necropolis. It is the urban counterpart of the basilica: the same man, the same victory, the same debt to the same saint.

Wikipédia — Église des Cordeliers de Nancy ↗

Getting there : 64-66 Grande-Rue, in Nancy. The church is open every day except Monday, from 10 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. and from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., and closed on 1 January, 1 May, 14 July, 1 November and 25 December. The adjoining ducal palace, seat of the Musée Lorrain, is undergoing renovation works; the church itself remains accessible and holds an exhibition on the history of the duchies.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound