Showing 1-9 of 9 results
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Chambre de Commerce
Nearby place du Théâtre is dominated by the neo-Flemish Chambre de Commerce, topped by a 76m-high spire with a gilded clock. Both were built in the early 20th century.
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Citadelle
The greatest military architect of the 17th century, Sébastien le Prestre de Vauban, designed the massive Citadelle, shaped like a five-pointed star, after the capture of Lille by France in 1667. Built using some 60 million bricks, it still functions as a military base but around the 2.2km-long outer ramparts you'll find central Lille's largest park. On the southeastern side there's a children's amusement park and a small zoo (admission free).
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Fine Arts Museum
Lille's world-renowned Fine Arts Museum , built from 1885 to 1892, has a truly first-rate collection of 15th- to 20th-century paintings, including works by Rubens, Van Dyck and Manet. On the ground floor, there's exquisite porcelain and faïence, much of it of local provenance, while in the basement you'll find classical archaeology, medieval statuary and intricate 18th-century models of the fortified cities of northern France and Belgium.
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Hospice Comtesse Museum
Housed in an attractive 15th- and 17th-century poorhouse, the Hospice Comtesse Museum features ceramics, faïence wall tiles and 17th- and 18th-century paintings, furniture and religious art. The Salle des Malades (Hospital Hall) is decorated with Lille tapestries. The museum was undergoing renovations as we went to press.
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La Piscine Musée d'Art et d'Industrie
If Paris can turn a disused train station into a world-class museum, why not take an Art Deco municipal swimming pool (built 1927-32) - an architectural masterpiece inspired by a combination of civic pride and hygienic high-mindedness - and transform it into a temple of the arts? This innovative museum La Piscine Musée d'art et d'industrie , 12km northeast of Gare Lille-Europe, showcases fine arts, applied arts and sculpture in a delightfully watery environment.
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La Voix du Nord
On the southern side of place du Général de Gaulle, the 1932 Art Deco home of La Voix du Nord , the leading regional daily, has a gilded sculpture of the Three Graces on top. The goddess-topped column (1845) in the square's fountain commemorates the city's successful resistance to the Austrian siege of 1792.
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Maison natale de charles de gaulle
Maison natale de charles de gaulle . The upper-middle-class house in which Charles André Marie Joseph de Gaulle - WWII Resistance leader, architect of the Fifth Republic and ferocious defender of French interests - was born in 1890 has been turned into a museum that presents the French leader in the context of his times, with an emphasis on his connection to France's far north. Displays include De Gaulle's dainty baptismal robe and some evocative newsreels.
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Museum of Modern Art
The highly regarded Museum of Modern Art , in a sculpture park 9km east of Gare Lille-Europe (the route is circuitous so if you're driving get a good map), displays colourful, playful and just plain weird works by artists such as Braque, Calder, Léger, Miró, Modigliani and Picasso. It will be closed until sometime in 2008 while a huge new wing, to house a collection of Art Brut, is built. To get there, take metro line No 1 to Pont de Bois and then bus No 41 to Parc Urbain-Musée.
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Vieille Bourse
The Flemish-Renaissance Vieille Bourse of 1652, ornately decorated with caryatids and cornucopia, actually consists of 24 separate houses.
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Showing 1-9 of 9 results
