Everything about Lille totally explained
|region=
Nord-Pas de Calais
|departement=
Nord (59)
|mayor=
Martine Aubry
|party =
PS
|mandat =2008-2014
|area= 39.51
|date-population= 2004 estimate
|population= 226 800
|population-ranking=
10th in France
|date-density= 2004
|density= 5 740
|UU-area= 450
|UU-area-date= 1999
|UU-pop= 1 000 900
|UU-pop-date= 1999
|AU-area= 975
|AU-area-date= 1999
|AU-pop= 1 143 125
|AU-pop-date= 1999
|intercom-details2=
Urban Community of
Lille Métropole
|}}
Lille (; ) is the main city of the
Lille Métropole, France's fourth largest
metropolitan area that consists of Lille,
Roubaix,
Tourcoing and their suburbs. It is located to the country's north, on the
Deûle River, near the border with
Belgium. It is the
capital of the
Nord-Pas de Calais region and the
préfecture (capital) of the
Nord department.
The city of Lille absorbed
Lomme on February 27, 2000, giving a city population of 226,800 inhabitants at the 2005 census. This contrasts with a population of 1,091,438 for the Lille Métropole, and 1,885,000 for the
eurodistrict of Lille-Kortrijk, which also includes the area around the cities of
Kortrijk,
Tournai,
Mouscron and
Ypres on Belgian territory.
History
Origin of the city
The legend of "
Lydéric and Phinaert" puts the foundation of the city of "L'Isle" at 640. Although the first mention of the town appears in archives from the year 1066, some archeological digs seem to show the area as inhabited by as early as 2000 BC, most notably in the modern-day
quartiers of Fives,
Wazemmes, and Old Lille.
The name Lille comes from
insula or
l'Isla, since the area was at one time marshy. This name was used for the
Counts of Flanders' castle (
Château du Buc), built on dry land in the middle of the marsh.
The Count of Flanders controlled a number of old Roman cities (
Boulogne,
Arras,
Cambrai) as well as some founded by the
Carolingians (
Valenciennes,
Saint-Omer,
Ghent,
Bruges). The
County of Flanders thus extended to the left bank of the
Scheldt, one of the richest and most properous regions of Europe. The original inhabitants of this region were the
Gauls, such as the
Menapians, the
Morins, the
Atrebates, and the
Nervians, who were followed by
Germanic peoples, the
Saxons and the
Frisians, and the
Franks later. From 830 until around 910, the
Vikings invaded Flanders. After the destruction caused by
Norman and
Magyar invasion, the eastern part of the region fell under the eyes of the area's princes.
Middle ages
A local notable in this period was
Evrard, who lived in the 9th century and participated in many of the day's political and military affair.
From the 12th century, the fame of the Lille cloth fair began to grow. In 1144 Saint Sauveur parish was formed, which would give its name to the modern-day
quartier Saint-Sauveur.
The counts of Flanders, Boulogne, and
Hainaut came together with
England and the
Holy Roman Empire of
Germany and declared war on
France and
Philip II of France, a war that ended with the French victory at
Bouvines in 1214.
Infante Ferdinand, Count of Flanders was imprisoned and the county fell into dispute: it would be his wife,
Jeanne, Countess of Flanders and
Constantinople, who ruled the city. They say she was well-loved by the residents of Lille, who by that time numbered 10,000.
In 1224, the monk
Bertrand of Rains, doubtlessly encouraged by local lords, tried to pass himself off as
Baldwin I of Constantinople (the father of Jeanne of Flanders), who had disappeared at the
battle of Adrianople. He pushed the kingdoms of Flanders and Hainaut towards sedition against Jeanne in order to recover his land. She called her cousin,
Louis VIII ("The Lion"). He unmasked the imposter, whom Countess Jeanne quickly had hanged. In 1226 the King agreed to free
Infante Ferdinand, Count of Flanders. Count Ferrand died in 1233, and his daughter Marie soon after. In 1235, Jeanne granted a city charter by which city governors would be chosen each All Saint's Day by four commissioners chosen by the ruler. On February 6th, 1236, she founded the Countess's Hospital (
L'hospice de la comtesse), which remains one of the most beautiful buildings in Old Lille. It was in her honor that the hospital of the Regional Medical University of Lille was named "Jeanne of Flanders Hospital" in the 20th century.
The Countess died in 1244 in the
Abbey of Marquette, leaving no heirs. The rule of Flanders and Hainaut thus fell to her sister,
Margaret II, Countess of Flanders, then to Marguerite's brother,
Guy of Dampierre. Lille fell under the rule of France from 1304 to 1369, after the battle of
Mons-en-Pévèle.
The county of Flanders fell to the
Duchy of Burgundy next, after the 1369 marriage of
Margaret III, Countess of Flanders, and
Philip the Bold,
Duke of Burgundy. Lille thus became one of the three capitals of said Duchy, along with
Brussels and
Dijon. By 1445, Lille counted some 25,000 residents.
Philippe le Bon, Duke of Burgundy, was even more powerful than the
King of France, and made Lille an administrative and financial capital.
On
February 17,
1454, one year after the
taking of Constantinople by the
Turks,
Philippe le Bon organised a
Patagruelian banquet at his Lille palace, the still-celebrated "
Feast of the Pheasant". There the Duke and his court undertook an oath to
Christianity.
In 1477, at the death of the last duke of Burgundy,
Charles the Bold,
Mary of Burgundy married a
Hapsburg,
Maximilian of Austria, who thus became Count of Flanders. At the end of the reign of the
Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Spanish Flanders fell to his eldest son, and thus under the rule of
Philip II of Spain, King of Spain. The city remained under Spanish rule until the reign of [[PhilipIV of Spain].
The modern era
The 16th century was marked, above all, by the outbreak of the
Plague, a boom in the regional textile industry, and the
Protestant revolts.
The first
Calvinists appeared in the area in 1542; by 1555 there was anti-Protestant repression taking place. In 1578, the
Hurlus, a group of Protestant rebels, stormed the castle of the Counts of
Mouscron. They were removed four months later by a
Catholic Wallon regiment, after which they tried several times between 1581 and 1582 to take the city of Lille, all in vain. The Hurlus were notably held back by the legendary
Jeanne Maillotte. At the same time (1581), at the call of
Elizabeth I of England, the north of the
Southern Netherlands, having gained a Protestant majority, successfully revolted and formed the
United Provinces.
In 1667,
Louis XIV of France (the Sun-King) successfully laid
siege to Lille, resulting in it becoming French in 1668 under the
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, provoking discontent among the citizens of the prosperous city. A number of important public works undertaken between 1667 and 1670, such as the Citadel (erected by
Vauban), or the creation of the quartiers of Saint-André and la Madeleine, enabled the King to gradually gain the confidence of his Lille subjects, who continued to feel Flemish, though they'd always spoken the French Picard dialect.
During five years, from 1708 to 1713, the city was occupied by the
Dutch, during the
War of the Spanish Succession. Throughout the 18th century, Lille remained profoundly Catholic, which explains why the city didn't really take part in the
French Revolution, though there were riots and the destruction of churches. In 1790, the city held their first municipal elections.
After the French Revolution
In 1792, in the aftermath of the
French Revolution, the
Austrians, then in the United Provinces, laid siege to Lille. The "
Column of the Goddess", erected in 1842 in the "Grand-Place" (officially named
La Place du Général de Gaulle), is a tribute to the city's resistance, led by Mayor
François André. Although Austrian artillery destroyed many houses and the main church of the city, the city didn't surrender and the Austrian army left after eight days.
The city continued to grow, and by 1800 held some 53,000 residents, leading to Lille becoming the county seat of the
Nord départment in 1804. In 1846, a rail line connecting
Paris and Lille was built.
At the beginning of the 19th century,
Napoleon I's
continental blockade against the
United Kingdom led to Lille's textile industry developing itself even more fully. The city was known for its
cotton, and the nearby towns of
Roubaix and
Tourcoing worked
wool.
In 1853,
Alexandre Desrousseaux composed his famous lullaby
Dors mon p'tit quinquin. In 1858, an imperial decree led to the annexation of the adjacent towns of Fives,
Wazemmes, and Moulins. Lille's population was 158,000 in 1872, growing to over 200,000 by 1891. In 1896 Lille became the first city in France to be led by a
socialist,
Gustave Delory.
By 1912, Lille's population was at 217,000: the city profited from the
Industrial Revolution, particularly via
coal and the
steam engine. The entire region had grown wealthy thanks to the mines and to the textile industry.
World War I
From October 4th to 13th, 1914, the troops in Lille were able to trick the enemy by convincing them that Lille possessed more
artillery than was the case; in reality, the city had only a single
cannon. Despite the deception, the German bombardments destroyed over 2,200 buildings and homes. When the
Germans realized they'd been tricked, they burned down an entire section of town, subsequently occupying the city. Lille was liberated by the
British on October 17th, 1918, when
General Sir William Birdwood and his troops were welcomed by joyous crowds. The general was made an honorary citizen of the city of Lille on October 28th of that year.
The Années Folles, the Great Depression, and the Popular Front
In July 1921, at the
Pasteur Institute in Lille,
Albert Calmette and
Camille Guérin discovered the first anti-
tuberculosis vaccine, known as
BCG ("Bacille de Calmette et Guérin").
From 1931 Lille felt the repercussions of the
Great Depression, and by 1935 a third of the city's population lived in poverty. In 1936, the city's mayor,
Roger Salengro, became
Minister of the Interior of the
Popular Front, eventually killing himself after right-wing groups led a slanderous campaign against him.
World War II
Lille was taken by the Germans in May 1940, after brief resistance by a
Moroccan Infantry division. When
Belgium was invaded, the citizens of Lille, still marked by the events of World War I, began to flee the city in large numbers. Although Lille was part of the zone under control of the German commander in Brussels, the city was never controlled by the
Vichy government. The
départments of Nord and
Pas-de-Calais (with the exception of the coast, notably
Dunkirk) were, for the most part, liberated in five days, from the 1st to 5th September 1944 by British,
American,
Canadian, and
Polish troops. On September 3rd, the German troops began to leave Lille, fearing the British, who were on their way from Brussels. Following this, the Lille resistance managed to retake part of the city before the British tanks arrived. Rationing came to an end in 1947, and by 1948, some normality had returned to Lille.
Post-war to the present
In 1967, the Chambers of Commerce of Lille, Roubaix, and Tourcoing were joined, and in 1969, the
Communauté urbaine de Lille (Lille urban community) was created, linking 87
communes with Lille.
Throughout the 1960s and 70s, the region was faced with some problems after the decline of the coal, mining and textile industries. From the start of the 1980s, the city began to turn itself more towards the
service sector.
In 1983, the
VAL, the world's first automated
rapid transit underground network, was opened. In 1993, a high-speed
TGV train line was opened, connecting Paris with Lille in one hour. This, followed by the opening of the
Channel Tunnel in 1994 and the arrival of the
Eurostar train, puts Lille in the centre of a triangle connecting Paris,
London, and Brussels. One of the earliest examples of ATO was on the Victoria line of the London Underground, opened in 1968. The ATO system performs all functions of the driver except for the closing of the doors. The driver only needs to press two buttons to close the doors and if the way is clear, then the train will automatically proceed to the next station. Many newer systems are now computer-controlled, including London's Docklands Light Railway, the Central Line, Line 14 of the Paris Métro, Line 2 and 5 of the Barcelona's Underground, Hong Kong MTR, West Rail, Ma On Shan Rail and a number of ART- and VAL-based systems.
Work on
Euralille, an urban remodelling project, began in 1991. The Euralille Centre was opened in 1994, and the remodeled district is now full of parks and modern buildings containing offices, shops, and apartments. In 1994 the "Grand Palais" was also opened.
Lille tried an unsuccessful bid for the organization of the
Games of the XXVIIIth Olympiad in 2004.
Economy
A former major
textile manufacturing centre, Lille forms the heart of a larger conurbation, regrouping Lille,
Roubaix,
Tourcoing and
Villeneuve d'Ascq, which is France's 4th-largest urban conglomeration with a 1999 population of over 1.1 million.
Transport
Public transport
The
Lille Métropole has a mixed mode public transport system, comprising
buses,
trams and a driverless
metro system, all of which are operated under the Transpole name. The
Lille Metro is a
VAL system (
véhicule automatique léger = light automated vehicle) that opened on
May 16,
1983, becoming the first automatic metro line in the world. The metro system has two lines, with a total length of 45km and 60 stations. The tram system consists of two interurban tram lines, connecting central Lille to the nearby communities of
Roubaix and
Tourcoing, and has 45 stops. 68 urban bus routes cover the metropolis, 8 of which reach into Belgium.
Railways
Lille is an important crossroads in the European
high-speed rail network: it lies on the
Eurostar line to
London and the French
TGV network to
Paris,
Brussels and other major centres in France such as Marseille, Lyon, and Toulouse. It has two train stations, which stand next door to one another: Lille-Europe station (
Gare de Lille-Europe), which primarily serves high-speed trains and international services (Eurostar), and Lille-Flandres station (
Gare de Lille-Flandres), which primarily serves lower speed trains.
Highways
No fewer than five
autoroutes pass by Lille, the densest confluence of highways in France after Paris:
- Autoroute A27 : Lille - Tournai - Brussels / Liège - Germany
- Autoroute A23 : Lille - Valenciennes
- Autoroute A1 : Lille - Arras - Paris / Reims - Lyon / Orléans / Le Havre
- Autoroute A25 : Lille - Dunkirk - Calais - England / North Belgium
- Autoroute A22 : Lille - Antwerp - Netherlands
A sixth one — the proposed A24 — will link Amiens to Lille if built, but there's opposition to its route.
Air traffic
Lille Lesquin International Airport is 15 minutes from the city centre. It is the 12th most frequented French airport in number of passengers:
around 970,000 passengers in 2001
almost 873,000 passengers in 2003
In terms of shipping, it ranks fourth, with almost 38,000 tonnes of freight which pass through each year.
Waterways
Lille is the 3rd largest French river port after Paris and Strasbourg. The river Deûle is connected to regional waterways with over 680 km of navigatable waters. The Deûle connects to Northern Europe via the River Scarpe and the River Scheldt (towards Belgium and the Netherlands), and internationally via the Lys River (to Dunkerque and Calais).
Shipping statistics
| Year |
1997 |
2000 |
2003 |
| Millions of tonnes |
5.56 |
6.68 |
7.30 |
| By River or Sea |
8.00% |
8.25% |
13.33% |
| By Rail |
6.28% |
4.13% |
2.89% |
| By Road |
85.72% |
87.62% |
83.78% |
Education
With over 97 000 students, the metropolitan area of Lille is one of the first student cities in France.
The Catholic University was founded in 1875. Today it has law, economics, medicine, physics faculties and schools. Among the most famous is Institut Catholique d'Arts et Métiers (ICAM) founded in 1898, ranked 20th among engineering schools, with the specificity of graduating polyvalent engineers, École des hautes études commerciales du nord (EDHEC) founded in 1906 and the IESEG currently ranked within the top 5 and top 15 business schools in France, respectively. In 1924 ESJ - a leading journalism school - was established.
With roots back from 1562 to 1793 as Université de Douai, then as Université Impériale in 1808, the State Université was established in Lille in 1854 with Louis Pasteur as the first dean of its Faculty of Sciences. A school of medecine was also established in Lille in 1854. Université de Lille was united as the association of existing public Faculties in 1887 and was split into three independent universities in 1970, including:
» ESA - Ecole Supérieure des Affaires is a Business Management school established in Lille in 1990. IEP Sciences-Po Lille political studies institute was established in Lille in 1992.
Ecole Centrale de Lille was established as Institut Industriel du Nord (IDN) in 1872 and is one of the five Centrale Graduate Schools of engineering in France. established in 1892 is ranked among the top business schools in France. was established as Institut de chimie de Lille in 1894 supporting chemistry research as followers of 's breakthrough works in Lille. École nationale supérieure d'arts et métiers settled in Lille in 1900.
The European Doctoral College Lille Nord-Pas de Calais
is headquartered in Lille metropole and includes 3,000 PhD Doctorate students supported by university research laboratories.
Miscellaneous
The urban area is one of the biggest in France with more than 1 million inhabitants.
The Euralille urban development project, centred around the new TGV station has fostered a long debate among Lille's citizens. The project has finally been completed with modern architecture and disruption to the ancient city centre.
Lille was elected European Capital of Culture in 2004, along with the Italian city of Genoa
Lille is part of the Urban Community of Lille Métropole (formerly also known as C.U.D.L.).
Lille's football club the Lille O.S.C. is one of the major teams in the French football league, has won 8 major national trophies and now reagularly features in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup.
Lille's Fine Arts Museum (Musée des beaux-arts) is the second largest in France, after the Louvre.
Since 2006, Lille is home to the Lille Comics Festival, the main British and American comic books convention in the north of France, held in November, on the first week end. (http://www.lillecomicsfestival.com)
The European Railway Agency (http://www.era.eu.int/) has offices in Lille and Valenciennes.
Lille features an array of architectural styles with various amounts of Flemish influence, including the use of brown and red brick. In addition, many residential neighborhoods, especially in Greater Lille, consist of attached 2-3 story houses aligned in a row, with narrow gardens in the back. These architectural attributes, many uncommon in France, help make Lille a transition in France to neighboring Belgium, as well as nearby Netherlands and England, where the presence of brick, as well as row houses or the Terraced house is much more prominent.
Émile Zola's novel Germinal is set near Lille, in Marchiennes.
Famous people from Lille
Scientists and entrepreneurs
Charles-Joseph Panckoucke, (1736–1788), founder of the, owner of Mercure de France, promotor of the Lumières and editor of the Encyclopédie Méthodique.
(1789–1864), industrialist in the textile field and French spy.
, (1803–1881), chemist professor, and creator of a sulfuric acid factory with an innovative process, as required for textile manufacturing.
(1815-1899), creator of the first Nordiste bank.
Louis Pasteur, (1822–1895), dean of the faculty of Science of Lille, inventor of the pasteurisation process, micro-biologist and pioneer of vaccines ; founder of the Institut Pasteur.
(1840–1914), modernizer of the city.
Albert Calmette (1863-1933) and Camille Guérin (1872–1961), discovery of the antituberculosis vaccine.
Jean Baptiste Perrin (1870-1942), Nobel Prize in physics and creator of the French CNRS (National Centre for Scientific Research).
Jean Dieudonné (1906-1992), mathematician.
Artists
Renée Adorée (1898–1933), actress.
Alfred-Pierre Agache (1843–1915), academic painter
Robert Arnoux (1899–1964), actor.
Gilles Béhat (1949-), actor and director.
Émile Bernard (1868–1941), neoimpressionist painter and friend of Paul Gauguin
Line Dariel (1886–1956), comedian.
Alain Decaux (1925-), television presenter, minister, writer, and member of the Académie française.
Pierre De Geyter (1848–1932), textile worker who composed the music of The Internationale in Lille.
Raoul de Godewaersvelde (1928–1977), singer.
Alexandre Desrousseaux (1820–1892), songwriter.
Carolus-Duran (1837–1917), painter.
Julien Duvivier (1896–1967), director.
Yvonne Furneaux (1928-), actress.
Paul Gachet (1828-1909), doctor most famous for treating the painter Vincent van Gogh
Kamini (1980- ), rap singer, hits success in 2006 in France with the funny "rural-rap" Marly-Gomont
Édouard Lalo (1823–1892), composer.
Serge Lutens (born 1942) photographer, make-up artist, interior and set designer, creator of perfumes and fashion designer.
Bob Santino(External Link)
Philippe Noiret (1930–2006), actor.
Antoine Renard (1825–1872), composer (Temps des cerises).
Albert Samain (1858–1900), poet.
Léopold Simons (1901–1979), poet, caricaturist, painter, sculptor.
Politicians, professionals and military
Lydéric, (620–?) legendary founder of the city.
Jeanne, Countess of Flanders, (1188/1200? –1244), Countess.
Jeanne Maillotte, (circa 1580), resistance fighter during the Hurlu attacks.
Louis Faidherbe (1818–1889), general, founder of the city of Dakar and senator.
Achille Liénart (1884–1973), « cardinal des ouvriers ».
Charles de Gaulle (1890–1970), general, resistance fighter, President of France.
Roger Salengro (1890–1936), minister, deputy, and Mayor of Lille.
Augustin Laurent (1896–1990), minister, deputy, resistance fighter, and Mayor of Lille.
Madeleine Damerment (1917–1944), French Resistance fighter - Legion of Honor, Croix de Guerre, Médaille combattant volontaire de la Résistance
Pierre Mauroy (1928–), deputy, senator, Prime Minister of France, and Mayor of Lille.
Martine Aubry (1950–), deputy, minister, and Mayor of Lille.
Bertrand Debosque (1960–), president of the Bar of Lille (2007–2009), chief organizer of the "Convention Nationale des Avocats 2008".
Sports
Didier Six (1954-), former soccer player, part of the winning team of UEFA Euro 1984.
Twin cities
Cologne, Germany
Erfurt, Germany [
Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg ][
Kharkiv, Ukraine ][
Leeds, United Kingdom ][
Liège, Belgium ][
Nablus, Palestine ][
Oujda, Morocco ][
Rotterdam, Netherlands ][
Safed, Israel ][
Saint-Louis, Senegal ][
Shanghai, People's Republic of China ][
Turin, Italy ][
Valladolid, Spain ][Further Information]
Get more info on 'Lille'.
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