2023 - September - Nancy - Place Stanislas

Question: How does a Polish king get to Nancy in France?

To put it briefly, he lived here in exile.

And how is it that a king without a kingdom built such a beautiful place here, which has even been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983?

So this story is told in a more elaborate way. And I actually dozed off several times while reading the many, many, many articles about it. I'll briefly summarize my findings for you:

First of all, Polish kings at this time came to office by election. This meant that they were of course dependent on alliances and were then partially overthrown again. That's what happened to Stanislas Leszczyński - twice!

However, it so happened that Stanislas Leszczyński's daughter Maria married the French King Louis XV in 1725. married. She was selected from a catalog of 99 candidates.

When Stanislas Leszczyński later had to find accommodation while fleeing Poland, it was his son-in-law who made him the owner of Bar and Lorraine in 1737 through treaty negotiations and the exchange of duchies.

Here he had several properties, including the Lunéville Castle, which is located about 35 km from Nancy, and lived there mainly with his wife.

But he was also partly based in Nancy and, among other things, encouraged the construction of the ensemble of the current Place Stanislas, thereby connecting the medieval city with the new town. The result was a modern capital.

The square was planned and built by the architect Emmanuel Héré between 1752 and 1756 and was thought out in such a way that it showed status but also combined this with functionality.

At the time, the square was called Place Royale in honor of Stanislas Leszczyński's father-in-law, Louis XV. In addition, there was a cast iron statue of Louis XV in the middle of the ensemble.

Of course (!) this was later removed during the French Revolution.

The fact that Stanislas Leszczyński himself was a modern and sensitive ruler is also shown by his gesture of donating the square to the municipality of Nancy in 1759.

However, the square was renamed countless times throughout history. Among other things, it was called Place du Peuple twice and later also Place Napoléon. In 1831, 65 years after the death of Stanislas Leszczyński, it was christened "Place Stanislas" for the first time and a statue was erected in honor of the former ruler.

Nevertheless, the name was changed again and it was only in 1851 that it was hopefully finally called Place Stanislas again.

Today we continue to enjoy the baroque-classic look of this exceptional complex and enjoy the view from one of the many restaurants located here.

What was particularly impressive for us was the video installation “La Belle Saison” that took place every evening in the summer. It begins on June 16th and ends this year on September 10th, 2023.

I think Stanislas Leszczyński would have liked this “magic” too.