Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The museum of the castle of Lunéville finds its origins in the town hall of the commune, where it was originally installed in the former Abbey of Saint-Rémy. After the First World War, he was transferred to the castle of Lunéville, acquired in 2000 by the Departmental Council of Meurthe-et-Moselle. This castle, symbol of the prestige of the Dukes of Lorraine, had been rebuilt in the early eighteenth century under Leopold I, then embellished by Stanislas Leszczynski, which added gardens and exotic factories. The architect Germain Boffrand, student of Jules Hardouin-Mansart, made him a Lorrain rival of Versailles.

In 2003, a fire ravaged the museum, destroying more than 800 works. The teams then undertake a partial reconstruction and reconstruction of the collections, focusing on the history of the castle and its occupants. The site reopens in 2010, offering from temporary exhibitions and a permanent presentation project integrating the remaining restoration spaces. The museum highlights local faiences, an iconography of the reigns of Leopold I and Stanislas, as well as a rich collection of graphic arts.

In the 13th century, the castle itself, attested as a wooden fortress, became a ducal residence. Transformed in the 17th century by Henry II, it was almost entirely rebuilt by Leopold I between 1701 and 1723, after the damage suffered during the Thirty Years War. Stanislas, Duke of Lorraine from 1737 onward, added landscape features to Emmanuel Héré, architect of Place Stanislas in Nancy. After Lorraine joined France in 1766, the castle houses cavalry regiments until the 20th century, which in Lunéville was called the "cavalier city".

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