THE NOBLE TOWER - DEPARTMENTAL MEMORIAL OF RESISTANCE AND DEPORTATION

Known to have been the most besieged city in France, Lille is still home to some architectural symbols that bear witness to the tumultuous past of this commercial city. Nearly six centuries old, the Noble Tour de Lille is a clear example of this. This former artillery tower built by Philippe le Hardi (1st Duke of Burgundy) is one of the medieval remains of the capital of Flanders. If the building has suffered somewhat from time and successive sieges, it is nevertheless a place of history and memory. It was in one of the last medieval remains of the city that General de Gaulle inaugurated the Memorial to the Resistance and Deportation in 1959. Since that day, the walls of the Noble Tower have protected an urn containing the ashes of victims of the deportation.