Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-l'Annonciation de Nancy

Nancy

Throughout the Middle Ages, the capital of the Dukes of Lorraine had no bishop: Nancy came under Toul, and when Toul passed under French control in 1552, the dukes never ceased trying to obtain a see in their own town. All they obtained, in 1602, was the elevation of their church to the rank of primatial church, with a mere chapter. The plans, drawn up in 1700 by Giovanni Betto after Sant'Andrea della Valle in Rome, were revised by Jules Hardouin-Mansart; the building work, begun in 1703 under Duke Leopold, was completed economically by Germain Boffrand, and the first mass was said there on 1 November 1742. The interior, of the Corinthian order, is restrained: the eye rises to the dome, where the Nancy painter Claude Jacquart painted a heavenly glory from 1723 to 1727, then rests on the chapel railings, forged by Jean Lamour between 1751 and 1755, shortly before those of Place Stanislas. The two towers, capped with domes and lanterns, are Victor Hugo's “Pompadour pepper pots”. It took the death of Stanislas and the union of Lorraine with France for a diocese of Nancy finally to come into being, in 1777. The treasury holds far older objects: those of Saint Gauzelin, Bishop of Toul from 922 to 962, who had bequeathed them to the abbey of Bouxières-aux-Dames, his foundation. A two-handled chalice of gold and silver gilt, a gold paten with cloisonné enamels, an ivory liturgical comb, a Carolingian gospel book in its goldsmith's binding and an episcopal ring: hidden during the Revolution, they arrived at the cathedral in 1803.

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Getting there : 52 bis Place Monseigneur-Ruch, a few steps from Place Stanislas. Open every day in 2026, from 8.45 am to 7 pm Monday to Saturday (from 10 am during school holidays) and from 10.45 am to 8 pm on Sundays (Nancy tourist office); self-guided visit, free of charge (Meurthe-et-Moselle Tourisme). Access to the treasury, kept in the sacristy, to be checked.

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

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