Saint-Nicolas-de-Port

Saint-Nicolas-de-Port
The basilica in Saint-Nicolas-de-Port
The basilica in Saint-Nicolas-de-Port
Coat of arms of Saint-Nicolas-de-Port
Location of Saint-Nicolas-de-Port
Map
Saint-Nicolas-de-Port is located in France
Saint-Nicolas-de-Port
Saint-Nicolas-de-Port
Saint-Nicolas-de-Port is located in Grand Est
Saint-Nicolas-de-Port
Saint-Nicolas-de-Port
Coordinates: 48°37′54″N 6°18′11″E / 48.6317°N 6.3031°E / 48.6317; 6.3031
CountryFrance
RegionGrand Est
DepartmentMeurthe-et-Moselle
ArrondissementNancy
CantonJarville-la-Malgrange
IntercommunalityPays du Sel et du Vermois
Government
 • Mayor (2020–2026) Luc Binsinger[1]
Area
1
8.23 km2 (3.18 sq mi)
Population
 (2021)[2]
7,364
 • Density890/km2 (2,300/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code
54483 /54210
Elevation201–292 m (659–958 ft)
(avg. 232 m or 761 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Saint-Nicolas-de-Port (French pronunciation: [sɛ̃ nikɔla pɔʁ]) is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle département in north-eastern France.[3]

The town's basilica, Saint Nicolas, is a pilgrimage site, supposedly holding relics of Saint Nicholas brought from Italy. It is one of France's Monuments historiques, and a minor basilica since 1950.

The town's inhabitants are known as Portois. In the past, the Portois were known as loudmouths; their neighbours across the Meurthe at Varangéville liked to gather on the opposite river bank to bombard them with a chorus indicating a wish to defecate in their mouths:

Booyaî d'Senn 'Colais,
Tend tet ghieule quand je...

which in the local Lorrain dialect means:

Loudmouths of St Nicks,
Open your gob when I'm taking a...[4]

St Nicholas-de-Port is also known for fossil remains of very early (late Triassic) ancestral mammals.

Basilica of Saint-Nicolas-de-Port
  1. ^ "Répertoire national des élus: les maires" (in French). data.gouv.fr, Plateforme ouverte des données publiques françaises. 13 September 2022.
  2. ^ "Populations légales 2021" (in French). The National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. 28 December 2023.
  3. ^ INSEE commune file
  4. ^ Graham Robb, The Discovery of France, p37, Picador (2007), ISBN 978-0-330-42761-6, citing Vital Collet "Sobriquets caractérisant les habitants de villages lorrains" in Le Pays lorrain, Nancy (1908), pp442-449 and Henri-Adolphe Labourasse, "Anciens us, coutumes, légendes, supersititions, préjugés, etc. du département de la Meuse" in Mémoires de la Société des lettres, sciences et art de Bar-le-Duc, 1902, pp3-225