Fodor's Expert Review Musée des Arts et Traditions Populaires

Just up the street from the Palais Ducal, this quirky museum is in the Couvent des Cordeliers (Convent of the Franciscans, who were known as Cordeliers until the Revolution). Displays re-create how local people lived in preindustrial times, using a series of evocative rural interiors. Craftsmen's tools, colorful crockery, somber stone fireplaces, and dark waxed-oak furniture accent the tableaulike settings. The dukes of Lorraine are buried in the crypt of the adjoining Église des Cordeliers, a Flamboyant Gothic church; the detailed gisant (reclining statue) of Philippa de Gueldra, second wife of René II, is executed in limestone and serves as a moving example of Renaissance portraiture. The octagonal Ducal Chapel was begun in 1607 in the Renaissance style, modeled on the Medici Chapel in Florence.

There are major restorations underway until 2027, and currently only the Église des Cordeliers is open to the public.