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Lille is more than just the capital of northern France: it is a major commercial centre, an exciting and vibrant city - the fourth largest in France. Its economic fortunes have been transformed thanks to the European Union and its location at the crossroads of important commercial routes linking Britain, France and Belgium with the rest of mainland Europe.
The city has had a chequered past, from its medieval origins as one of the capitals of the County of Flanders, then becoming first a part of Burgundy, then of the Spanish Habsburg empire, before Louis XIV annexed it in 1667. In the 19th century Lille expanded rapidly, its wealth built on textiles, coal and heavy industry. Today banking, insurance, I.T. and universities have taken their place, symbolised by the construction in the 1990s of the Euralille business centre with the adjacent Lille-Europe rail station served by Eurostar and high-speed trains to every part of France.
Lille's unique cultural heritage has been supplemented by a programme of urban renewal and restoration in recent years. Historic monuments and architecture rub shoulders with an array of shops ancient and modern, markets, and restaurants, indeed it has been voted no. 3 in France's league of gastronomy (after Paris and Lyon).
From your Eurostar and the Lille Europe station, the heart of the city is but a five minute walk along a well-signed route. Should you choose to go via the retail delights of the Euralille shopping-centre your walk could well take a little longer and be at some expense !
Just beyond the shops is Lille's other main-line railway station Lille Flandres, used by local and regional trains. The grand classical façade with its gateway, arcades, portico and monumental arch, is none other than the façade of the original Gare du Nord in Paris, recycled in the 1860s and embellished by the addition of a second storey and a clock.
Lille's most famous son is Charles de Gaulle, whose Maison Natale - the very house where he was born - is a museum to the great man while the main square in the town centre proudly carries his name. Place du Général de Gaulle is the hub of this city, bordered by the impressive façades of the Art Deco “Voix du Nord” newspaper offices and the 17th century Vieille Bourse (Old Stock Exchange). To the east lie the imposing Nouvelle Bourse (New Exchange) and the Opéra, both built at the start of the 20th century. Colourful Flemish architecture is everywhere with its narrow ornamented facades (of which the Vieille Bourse is a prime example). You can also see French classical style houses, grand boulevards and even the "Maison Folie" - a former textile factory now re-born as a cultural and community centre.
But the city's charm undoubtedly lies in its historic centre, Vieux Lille - a lively concentration of cobbled squares and narrow streets packed with stylish shops, smart cafés and trendy restaurants. For more modest tastes brasseries and bistros offer mussels, chips, chicken stew and beer: Flemish attributes in defiance of nearly 700 years of French culinary traditions. For those in search of souvenirs of a comestible nature, Lille abounds in markets and shops purveying all manner of regional food and drink specialities.
After the boutiques of Vieux Lille, you may want to seek refuge in the Hospice Comtesse - a haven of peace in the form of a hospital founded here in 1237 and now a museum. It contains Flemish, Dutch and northern French masterpieces from the 15th to the 18th centuries together with tapestries of Guillaume Werniers and paintings of the Watteau brothers.
Still on a cerebral plane, we have the the Palais des Beaux-Arts, which enjoys a reputation in France second only to the Louvre - the museum is especially strong on Flemish works, including Rubens and Van Dyck, and works by Dirk Bouts, Van Goyen, Goya, Delacroix, Courbet and many Impressionists.
“Notre Dame de la Treille”, Lille's cathedral, has the distinction of being France's most-recently completed cathedral. It is an outstanding neo-Gothic edifice completed in time for the 2000 Millennium, some 145 years after the first stone was laid in 1854.
Central Lille has a number of attractive green areas, fine riverside walks and the Parc Matisse, designed as a kind of “natural” garden and opened in 1995 as a place of relaxation for workers and visitors to the nearby Euralille development. Some way away is the Jardin Vauban with gardens laid out in the classic 19th-century English style.
From the ugly duckling of the “Manchester of France” has emerged the swan of an exciting regional capital in the forefront of both art and technological innovation.
As the lady at the Tourist Office said:
When are you coming to visit? We warmly await you !
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