Home»All Photographs»France World Heritage (click to see more)»Nancy, Place Stanislas, Place de la Carriere and Place d'Alliance»Place de la Carrière

Place de la Carrière, or Carriere Square, appeared in the middle of the sixteenth century when the medieval fortifications of the city were moved back due to a recent extension of the city to the east. Its name comes from its career use for jousting, tournaments and other equestrian games. The famous 17th century Lorraine engravers Jacques Callot and Claude Deruet depicted the square in a number of their prints. It was not until the late seventeenth century that the French, during occupation of the city, established communication with the neighbouring New Town by opening the gate already named Porte Royale in honor of Louis XIV. But it was not until the reign of Stanislas Leszczynski that the idea of ​​uniting Old Town and New Town truly came to fruition.The square is closed to the north by the Palais du Gouverneurment -the former Palais de l'Intendance- set in a semicircle of columns and to the south by a triumphal arch.At the south end, on one side stands the Beauvau-Craon Mansion by Boffrand, and just opposite in the south-west corner, Emmanuel Héré’s replica of this mansion which he made for the Bourse (the stock exchange). Starting from these two buildings, two long rows of houses stretch along either side of the square as far as two identical houses which in turn are connected up to the colonnade at the north end.