Must-see attractions in Lille

Inaugurated in 1892, Lille's illustrious Fine Arts Museum claims France's second-largest collection after Paris' Musée du Louvre. Its cache of sublime…

An art deco municipal swimming pool built between 1927 and 1932 is now an innovative museum showcasing fine arts (paintings, sculptures, drawings) and…

Colourful, playful and just plain weird works of modern and contemporary art by masters such as Braque, Calder, Léger, Miró, Modigliani and Picasso are…

Built between 1924 and 1932, Lille's city hall is topped by a slender, 104m-high belfry that was designated a Unesco-listed monument in 2004. Climbing 100…

For an authentic taste of grassroots Lille, head to the ethnically diverse, family-friendly quartier populaire (working-class quarter) of Wazemmes, 1.3km…

Within a red-brick 15th- and 17th-century poorhouse, this absorbing museum features ceramics, earthenware wall tiles, religious art, 17th- and 18th…

Splashed with street art murals, this cavernous red-brick postal sorting centre was transformed into an arts centre in 2004, when Lille was the European…

The upper-middle-class house in which Charles de Gaulle was born in 1890 is now a museum presenting the French general and president in the context of his…

Ornamented with caryatids and cornucopia, this Flemish Renaissance extravaganza was completed in 1653. It consists of 24 separate houses set around a…

At the northwestern end of bd de la Liberté, this massive, star-shaped fortress was designed by renowned 17th-century French military architect Vauban…

Lille's Louis XVI-style opera house was built between 1907 and 1913 by French architect Louis-Marie Cordonnier, who was responsible for many of northern…

Designed by architect Louis-Marie Cordonnier and built between 1910 and 1921 in neo-Flemish style, Lille's landmark Chamber of Commerce building is…

Rising 32m high and topped by two sculpted angels, this triumphal arch was built between 1685 and 1692 to commemorate Louis XIV's conquest of Lille. Its…

Construction on Lille's neoclassical cathedral began in 1854 but its western façade, built from white marble, wasn't completed until 1999.