Brasserie Excelsior and the railway district
Listen at the stop, then read the transcript and follow the sources behind the story.
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Transcript
The railway district is where Nancy's Art Nouveau story begins to feel urban rather than museum-based.
After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the new German Empire annexed Alsace and part of Lorraine, including Metz. Nancy remained French, close to the new border.
People and businesses leaving the annexed territories moved into Nancy, contributing skills, capital and demand. The city's population and industrial base expanded.
Around the railway station, modern commercial buildings became a showcase. Nancy Tourisme notes that some Art Nouveau façades were deliberately positioned where train passengers would see them.
That is architecture as advertising.
The Brasserie Excelsior, slightly later than the movement's earliest phase, preserves a richly decorated environment associated with the city's Art Nouveau and early twentieth-century commercial culture.
Art Nouveau rejected the idea that modern industrial society had to look historically borrowed. Designers sought new forms inspired by plants, growth, asymmetry and the qualities of materials.
But the movement was not anti-industry. Nancy's distinctive strength came from collaboration between artists and manufacturers. Glass, furniture and metalwork could be produced for markets beyond the city.
Modernity therefore arrived through workshops and catalogues as much as avant-garde manifestos.
Our next stop is the Musée de l'École de Nancy area, where the movement becomes an organised alliance rather than a collection of decorative flourishes.