Sights in Lille
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Municipal Zoo
Children will love the small municipal zoo on the Citadelle’s southeastern flank. Served by the Citadine shuttle bus.
reviewed
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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.
reviewed
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Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-la-Treille
The 19th-century neo-Gothic Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-la-Treille has a strikingly modern (some would say ‘jarring’) west facade (1999) that looks better from inside the nave, where you can admire some decent 19th-century stained glass and mosaics.
reviewed
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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.
reviewed
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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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Musée de l'Hospice Comtesse
Housed in a remarkably attractive 15th- and 17th-century poorhouse, the Hospice Comtesse Museum features ceramics, earthenware wall tiles, religious art and 17th- and 18th-century paintings and furniture. A rood screen separates the Salle des Malades (Hospital Hall) from a mid-17th century chapel (look up to see a mid-19th century painted ceiling).
reviewed
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Vieille Bourse
The Vieille Bourse is a Flemish Renaissance extravaganza ornately decorated with caryatids and cornucopia. Built in 1653, it consists of 24 separate houses set around a richly ornamented interior courtyard that hosts a used-book market (1pm-7pm Tue-Sun); old postcards, comic books and CDs are also on sale. In the warm months locals often gather here to play échecs (chess).
reviewed
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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 (the Musée d'Orsay), 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, 12km northeast of Gare Lille-Europe, showcases fine arts, applied arts and sculpture in a delightfully watery environment.
reviewed
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Musée d'Art Moderne Lille-Métropole
Colourful, playful and just plain weird works of modern and contemporary art by masters such as Braque, Calder, Léger, Miró, Modigliani and Picasso are the big draw at the renowned Museum of Modern Art, reopened in late 2010 after extensive renovations. A brand new wing features Art Brut (outsider art). Situated in the Lille suburb of Villeneuve-d'Ascq, in a sculpture park 9km east of Gare Lille-Europe. To get there, take metro line 1 to Pont de Bois and then bus 41 to Parc Urbain-Musée.
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Citadelle
The greatest military architect of the 17th century, Sébastien le Prestre de Vauban (p944), designed this massive fortress, shaped like a five-pointed star, after the capture of Lille by France in 1667. Made of some 60 million bricks, it still functions as a French and NATO military base. It stands at the northeastern end of bd de la Liberté. Outside the 2.2km-long outer ramparts is the city centre’s largest park.
Children will love the amusement park, playgroundand small municipal zoo(admission free; h10am- 6pm, closed mid-Dec–mid-Feb), all on the Citadelle’s southeastern flank. Served by the Citadine shuttle bus.
reviewed
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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 is now a museum presenting the French leader in the context of his times, with an emphasis on his connection to French Flanders. Displays include de Gaulle's dainty baptismal robe and some evocative newsreels. The museum is 700m northwest of Musée de l'Hospice Comtesse along rue de la Monnaie and its northward continuation.
reviewed
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Palais des Beaux-Arts
Lille's world-renowned Fine Arts Museum displays a truly first-rate collection of 15th- to 20th-century paintings, including works by Rubens, Van Dyck and Manet. Exquisite porcelain and faience (pottery), much of it of local provenance, is on the ground floor, while in the basement you'll find classical archaeology, medieval statuary and 18th-century scale models of the fortified cities of northern France and Belgium. Tickets are valid for the whole day. Information sheets in French, English and Dutch are available in each hall.
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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.
Tickets are valid for the whole day. Information sheets are available in each hall. An audioguide is planned for the recently-reorganised paintings section.
reviewed