Allo? Nancy calling part 2
August 28th 2006 11:19
Allo allo!
Nancy, like so many other places in France, has a rich history. In particular, it was the centre for the development of a style of architecture and art called Art Nouveau, which literally means “New Art.” This style will be discussed in a post all of its own in a couple of days.
But today, I’m going to focus on Nancy’s earlier history and establishment as a town in modern day France.
I could go back to the dark ages and say, as they do on Wikipedia, that there is evidence of human settlement on the site of modern day Nancy as far back as 800 B.C. (Really…I’d love to know how they found out. To me, archaeology is an absolutely riveting subject). It seems that the main draw cards of the area were the large easily accessible iron ore deposit and the Meurthe River located nearby.
Place Stanislas built in honour of Duke Stanislas (this picture is licensed under the GNU Agreement and can be found at wikipedia.org)
The town of Nanciacum (a lovely Latin name) was built in about 1050 by Duke Gérard. It was destroyed by Emperor Frédéric the Second and rebuilt in stone. It became the capital of a French province after the death of Duke Stanislas in 1766. When the Lorraine region was created in the mid 20th century, Metz was chosen to be its capital over Nancy.
À demain
Melinda
P.S ‘Allo’ is the French word used when a person answers the telephone.
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