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Origin and history

The Hôtel de la Monnaie de Nancy is a former monetary workshop built between 1721 and 1725 by architect Germain Boffrand, on the implicit order of the Duke of Lorraine. This building, located on Rue de la Monnaie in the Old Town of Nancy, replaces a previous building destroyed that same year. Its location, occupied from the 11th century, successively housed a private home, a grain warehouse (from 1473), then a first monetary workshop installed in 1537.

The new hotel, in classic style, lost its monetary function in the 19th century. From then on, it hosts the departmental archives of Meurthe-et-Moselle, becoming an exceptional place of conservation. These archives include a large part of the documents of the Dukes of Lorraine, including the Treasury of Charters, with the exception of funds transferred to Vienna or Paris. The richness of these collections reflects Nancy's historic importance as the Duchy's capital.

Only the entrance door, with its vantals and its imposte, has been protected as historical monuments since 12 April 1944. After nearly two centuries of archival use, the collections left in 2021 for the Michel-Dinet Memory Centre. The Mint Hotel, however, remains a major architectural testimony of the Golden Lorrain Age under Stanislas and its predecessors.

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