Opéra national de Lorraine, Opera house in Place Stanislas, Nancy, France.
The Opéra national de Lorraine stands on the Place Stanislas in Nancy, its pale beige facade topped by a balustrade with stone urns and figures. Two storeys of tall arched windows with small wrought-iron balconies are divided by pilasters, and a band between them reads "OPERA NATIONAL DE LORRAINE". The rusticated ground floor has more arched openings, and a gilded wrought-iron gate stands at the right corner.
The first theatre, built under Stanislas Leszczyński in 1755, stood behind the Museum of Fine Arts and was destroyed by fire in the night of 4–5 October 1906 after a rehearsal of Mignon. Joseph Hornecker won the 1906 competition with an Italian-style design; the new house opened on 14 October 1919, its facade kept from the earlier building. It was restored in 1994 and became a national opera on 1 January 2006.
The house takes its name from the company's national status, granted on 1 January 2006, making it the fifth regional national opera in France. Its orchestra, choir and apprentice training centre for stage crafts are part of the institution. Guided tours open the Oriental Bar, a second foyer in an orientalising Art Nouveau style whose name only dates from 1982.
The building is right on the Place Stanislas and easy to reach on foot from most of the city center. A visit pairs well with a walk around the surrounding square, which is worth seeing on its own.
Although the current building was constructed after 1905, its facade mixes Neoclassical and Art Nouveau details, which is unusual for an opera house of this type. Nancy was at the time one of the main centers of Art Nouveau in Europe, which explains why that influence appears even on such a formal building.
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