Things to see and do Métropole lilloise

Built by Pierre Raoul in 1620, under the golden age of the Spanish occupation, the Ghent Gate, which was renamed to the Revolution, is a building often ignored but tells a lot about the history of the great capital of the North. While peace and prosperity prevail in the city, it is enlarged for the fifth time by strengthening its defences. The city is surrounded by doors and ramparts. This explains the severe aspect of the exterior facade of the door that was made to impress the enemy. Its interior facade, turned to the city, is much more worked with a high roof roof and windows framed with stone cords. At the beginning, the door consisted only of one central passage, which was added two side arcades in 1875 to allow the passage of the tramway that legend until 1963. Today the Ghent Gate is partly occupied by the restaurant La Terrasse des Remparts, but it still serves as a starting point for discovering the city walls and the vast Winston Churchill Plain. The attached ramparts are the subject of a restoration programme implemented by the city with a rehabilitation structure and a project for the development of the garden in the bottom is under way. The history of the Ghent Door is not finished.

A few steps from Lille, this beautiful forest of almost 700 hectares is the ideal place to recharge, walking, horse or bicycle. Note that the Phalempin family Tour Tour proposed by the General Council of the North is simply delicious, and allows you to cross the forest from end to end and enjoy all its diversity. The unfortunate point of the place: the highway A 1 near the woods, causing a noise nuisance throughout the northern part of the forest… Hence the interest of crossing the paths to the south and getting into nature, to enjoy the tranquillity of this haven of peace.

Palais Rameau rightly impresses the walker passing by boulevard de la Liberte. It is during a donation to the city of Lille that Charles Rameau request who a monument either built its name. Promise kept by the city, the palace was inaugurated in 1879. Its néo-Moorish façade is considerable including its powerful gate maintained by two square towers. Place of passion and exposure to 19TH < sup > th < /sup > century, prison during the Second World War and even exams room until 1960, this place was reinvented in the course of time. Surrounded by a beautiful little garden, the majestic glass roof ends up convincing visitors the magnificence of the place. This monument is listed Historical monument since 2002. Unfortunately, the art exhibitions and other events are too rare and do not allow this place to be worthy of its prestige. Small anecdote, falls it from the Lille agriculturalist Charles Rameau is equipped with a strawberry plant, dahlia, a map of potatoes, a rose tree and a vineyard to its request. Bref, enchanted palace and filled with stories! An advice: enjoy the next exhibition to discover it interior!

Majestic church, located at the corner of Solferino Street and National Street. It is a far cry. It was erected at the end of the th century, at the initiative of the Ladies of Mary's Children's Association of the Sacred Heart, to preserve Lille from the Prussian invasion. In neo-Gothic style, it is one of the largest churches in the city: 90 m long, 24 m wide and 22 m high under the main vault. It was built by the architect Lillois Jules Batigny between 1875 and 1898. Its steeple, so high that it is visible at miles to the round, was completed in the mid th century on plans. In reinforced concrete, it did not withstand the weather and had to be restored entirely from 2005 to 2008. The Absidiale chapel is adorned with a remarkable set of eleven stained glass windows in Chartres around 1890, which have been classified as Historical monuments since 1983. Among the other jewels of the church, note the presence of an English accompaniment organ dating from the end of the th century, also classified as the stained glass windows of the transept representing the evangelists.