This Friday, February 10, the Pierre-Messmer cultural center in Saint-Avold will be the setting for a conference by Etienne Martin and Pierre-Hyppolyte Pénet on the Saint-François-des-Cordeliers church, the oldest religious building in Nancy. erected in the heart of the old town.
A place undergoing renovation
Founded by René II, this church is all the more famous as it houses the famous ducal chapel where many dukes and duchesses of Lorraine are buried. Each year is also celebrated in the fall the mass of the dukes, in memory of the princes and princesses of the House of Lorraine. The Cordeliers church is also inseparable from the neighboring Lorraine Museum of which it is an extension and, during this period of renovation and expansion of the establishment, the only space open to visitors.
As such, it houses many works of art such as the Return of the Crusader or the famous recumbent statue of the Duchess Philippe of Guelders, by the Meuse sculptor Ligier Richier. The last work dedicated to the Cordeliers church dated from 1851.
It is to fill this gap that Etienne Martin (historian) and Pierre Hippolyte Pénet (curator of the heritage of the Palace of the Dukes of Lorraine) have decided to devote a new richly illustrated monograph to the church and the chapel, with a preface by Karl of Habsburg-Lorraine.
Conference this Friday, February 10 at 8 p.m. at the cultural center, 1, rue de la Chapelle in Saint-Avold, organized by the Historical Society of the Naborian Country (SHPN).
