The Lorraine Museum extension project is relaunched. Initiated in 2013, it had been bogged down since the closure of the place in 2018, due in particular to the legal action filed by the Association for the Heritage and Radiation of Nancy (APRN) in 2020. After three previous failures, the new appeal The offers were successful and the APRN promises not to appeal the new work authorization.
The APRN indeed approves the modifications made to the project. “The association notes that in-depth work has been carried out methodically in recent years by all parties concerned to rework the initial project and to achieve greater architectural coherence” she declared in a recent press release. Already in 2021, the renovation and extension plan for the palace of the Dukes of Lorraine – built in the 16th century – had been revised downwards. The planned new glass building, heavily criticized, had been reduced to a covered walkway and the basement amphitheater had been abandoned.
The association is also satisfied that the work is strictly supervised. Arnaud Gérard, director of the APRN, welcomes the fact that “all details of construction, demolition, restoration are accompanied by very precise recommendations from the architect of buildings of France, Drac, state and city services”reports the newspaper La Semaine.
In June 2023, Mayor Mathieu Klein launched a fourth call for tenders with an increased budget of 56.5 million euros, financed by the Region, the Department, the City and the State. In 2021, the budget envelope was 43 million euros. This budget increase is not well received by Françoise Hervé, a former municipal councilor who is strongly opposed to the extension of the museum. “For the moment I am still not satisfied with this project. The amount of work has increased and I am giving myself until the end of the consultation scheduled for the end of the month to study the possibility of an appeal to the administrative court”she announces.
The Nancy municipal council should deliberate during the semester to award the works contracts. The Lorraine Museum could therefore begin construction around May 2024 and start archaeological excavations in parallel. The renovated museum is scheduled to open by the end of 2029.
