1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/St Nicolas du Port

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23372361911 Encyclopædia Britannica, Volume 24 — St Nicolas du Port

ST NICOLAS, or St Nicolas du Port, a town of north-eastern France, in the department of Meurthe-et-Moselle, on the left bank of the Meurthe, 8 m. S.E. of Nancy by rail. Pop. (1906), 4796. The town has a fine Gothic church dating from the end of the 15th and the first half of the 16th century, and possessing a finger-joint of St Nicolas formerly the object of pilgrimages which were themselves the origin of well-known fairs. The latter became less important after 1635, when the Swedes sacked the town. There are important salt-workings in the vicinity; cotton spinning and weaving are carried on. Its port, shared with Varangéville on the opposite side of the river, has an active trade.