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Coordinates: :
Government
 o Mayor ()
34.8 km2 (13.4 sq mi)
 o Urban (2009)
442.5 km2 (170.9 sq mi)
 o Metro (2007)
7,200 km2 (2,800 sq mi)
Population (2012)2
 o Rank
 o Density
6,600/km2 (17,000/sq mi)
 o  (2009)
 o Urban density
2,300/km2 (5,900/sq mi)
 o  (2007)
 o Metro density
530/km2 (1,400/sq mi)
CET (GMT +1) ()
 o Summer ()
/Postal code
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers & 1 km? (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.
2 : residents of multiple communes (e.g., students and military personnel) only counted once.
Lille (French pronunciation:  ( ); : Rijsel pronounced ) is a city in northern , in . On the
River, near France's border with , it is the capital of the
Lille had a population of 226,827 at the 2009 census, the fourth largest
in France after ,
It has been suggested that this section be
out into another article titled . () (November 2015)
Archeological digs seem to show the area as inhabited by as early as 2000 BC,[] most notably in the modern-day quartiers of , , and Vieux Lille. The original inhabitants of this region were the , such as the , the , the , and the , who were followed by : the , the
The legend of "" puts the foundation of the city of Lille at 640. In the 8th century, the language of
was spoken here, as attested by
research. Lille's Dutch name is Rijsel, which comes from ter ijsel (at the island). The French equivalent has the same meaning: Lille comes from l'?le (the island).
From 830 until around 910, the
invaded Flanders. After the destruction caused by
invasion, the eastern part of the region was ruled by various local princes.
The first mention of the town dates from 1066: apud Insulam (Latin for "at the island"). At the time, it was controlled by the , as were the regional cities (the Roman cities , ,
as well as the
cities , ,
and ). The County of Flanders thus extended to the left bank of the , one of the richest and most prosperous regions of Europe.
A notable local in this period was , who lived in the 9th century and participated in many of the day's political and military affairs. There was an important Battle of Lille in 1054.
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, , and
came together with England and East Frankia and tried to regain territory taken by
following Henry II of England's death, a war that ended with the French victory at
was imprisoned and the county fell into dispute: it would be his wife,
and , who ruled the city. She was said to be well loved by the residents of Lille, who by that time numbered 10,000.
In 1225, the
, doubtlessly encouraged by local lords, tried to pass himself off as
(the father of Jeanne of Flanders), who had disappeared at the . He pushed the kingdoms of
towards sedition against Jeanne in order to recover his land. She called her cousin,
("The Lion"). He unmasked the imposter, whom Countess Jeanne quickly had hanged. In 1226 the King agreed to free . 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 6 February 1236, she founded the Countess's Hospital (), which remains one of the most beautiful buildings in Old Lille. It was in her honour 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
of Marquette, leaving no heirs. The rule of Flanders and Hainaut thus fell to her sister, , then to Margaret's son, . Lille fell under the rule of France from 1304 to 1369, after the .
The county of Flanders fell to the
next, after the 1369 marriage of , and , Duke of Burgundy. Lille thus became one of the three capitals of said Duchy, along with
and . By 1445, Lille counted some 25,000 residents. , Duke of Burgundy, was even more powerful than the , and made Lille an administrative and financial capital.
On 17 February 1454, one year after the
organised a
banquet at his Lille palace, the still-celebrated "". There the Duke and his court undertook an oath to Christianity.
In 1477, at the death of the last duke of Burgundy, ,
married , who thus became Count of Flanders.
1641 map of Lille in
The 'Vieille Bourse' on the 'Grand Place'
The 16th and 17th centuries were marked by a boom in the regional textile industry, the
revolts, and outbreaks of the .
Lille came under the rule of the
in 1519. The
fell to his eldest son
in 1555. The city remained under
rule until 1668.
first appeared in the area in 1542; by 1555 the authorities were taking steps to suppress this form of . In 1566 the countryside around Lille was affected by the . 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
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 . At the same time (1581), at the call of , the north of the , having gained a Protestant majority, successfully revolted and formed the . The war brought or exacerbated periods of famine and plague (the last in 1667–69).
The first printer to set up shop in Lille was Antoine Tack in 1594. The 17th century saw the building of new institutions: an
in 1610, a Jesuit college in 1611, an Augustinian college in 1622, almshouses or hospitals such as the Maison des Vieux hommes in 1624 and the Bonne et Forte Maison des Pauvres in 1661, and of a
Unsuccessful French attacks on the city were launched in 1641 and 1645. In 1667,
(the Sun King) successfully laid , resulting in it becoming French in 1668 under the , provoking discontent among the citizens of the prosperous city. A number of important public works undertaken between 1667 and 1670, such as the
(erected by ), or the creation of the quartiers of Saint-André and la Madeleine, enabled the King to gradually gain the confidence of his new subjects in Lille, some of whom continued to feel Flemish, though they had always spoken the Romance .
Entrance to the 'Vauban Citadel' (17th century)
For five years, from 1708 to 1713, the city was occupied by the Dutch, during the . Throughout the 18th century, Lille remained profoundly Catholic. It took little part in the , though there were riots and the destruction of churches. In 1790, the city held its first municipal elections.
In 1792, in the aftermath of the , the , then in the United Provinces, laid siege to Lille. The "", erected in 1842 in the "Grand-Place" (officially named ), is a tribute to the city's resistance, led by
. Although Austrian artillery destroyed many houses and the main church of the city, the city did not surrender and the Austrian army left after eight days.
The black dots around the windows (not the decorative ) are Austrian cannonballs lodged in the fa?ade.
The city continued to grow, and by 1800 held some 53,000 residents, leading to Lille becoming the county seat of the
in 1804. In 1846, a rail line connecting Paris and Lille was built. At the beginning of the 19th century, 's
against the United Kingdom led to Lille's textile industry developing even more fully. The city was known for its cotton while the nearby towns of
worked wool. Leisure activities were thoroughly organized in 1858 for the 80,000 inhabitants. Cabarets or taverns for the working class numbered 1300, or one for every three houses. At that time the city counted 63 drinking and singing clubs, 37 clubs for card players, 23 for bowling, 13 for skittles, and 18 for archery. The churches likewise have their social organizations. Each club had a long roster of officers, and a busy schedule of banquets festivals and competitions. In 1853,
composed his lullaby .
In 1858, Lille annexed the adjacent towns of Fives, , 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, .
By 1912, Lille's population stood at 217,000. The city profited from the , particularly via coal and the . The entire region grew wealthy thanks to its mines and textile industry.
German military parade in Lille, 1915
Between 4–13 October 1914, the troops in Lille were able to trick the enemy by convincing them that Lille possessed mor in reality, the city had only a single . Despite the deception, the German bombardments destroyed over 2,200 buildings and homes. When the
realised they had been tricked, they burned down an entire section of town, subsequently occupying the city. Because Lille was only 20 km from the battlefield, German troops passed through the city regularly on their way to and from the front. As a result, occupied Lille became a place both for the hospitalization and treatment of wounded soldiers as well as a place for soldiers' relaxation and entertainment. Many buildings, homes, and businesses were requisitioned to those ends.
Lille was liberated by the Allies on 17 October 1918, when
and his troops were welcomed by joyous crowds. The general was made an honorary citizen of the city of Lille on 28 October of that year.
Lille was also the hunting ground of World War I German flying Ace
who was nicknamed "the Eagle of Lille".
Lille's Art Deco city hall (1932)
In July 1921, at the
discovered the first anti- , known as
("Bacille de Calmette et Guérin"). The , designed by Lille architect , was dedicated in 1923.
From 1931 Lille felt the repercussions of the , and by 1935 a third of the city's population lived in poverty. In 1936, the city's , , became
of the , eventually killing himself after right-wing groups led a slanderous campaign against him.
Wrecked vehicles near Lille, after the 1940 .
During the , Lille was
by German forces for several days. When Belgium was invaded, the citizens of Lille, still haunted by the events of the First World War, began to flee the city in large numbers. Lille was part of the zone under control of the German commander in Brussels, and was never controlled by the
in . Lille was instead controlled under the . The départments of Nord and
(with the exception of the coast, notably ) were, for the most part, liberated in five days, from 1–5 September 1944, by British, American, Canadian, and Polish troops. On 3 September, the German troops began to leave Lille, fearing the British, who were on their way from Brussels. The city was retaken with little resistance when the British tanks arrived. Rationing came to an end in 1947, and by 1948 normality had returned to Lille.
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
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 .
In 1983, the , the world's first automated
underground network, was opened. In 1993, a high-speed
train line was opened, connecting Paris with Lille in one hour. This, with the opening of the
in 1994 and the arrival of the
train, put Lille at the centre of a triangle connecting Paris, London and Brussels.
Work on , 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 was elected
in 2004, along with the Italian city of .
Lille and Roubaix were impacted by the
which affected all of France's urban centres.
In 2007 and again in 2010, Lille was awarded the label "Internet City @@@@".
Lille can be described as summers normally do not reach high average temperatures, but winters can fall below freezing temperatures, but with averages quite a bit above the freezing mark. Precipitation is plentiful year round.
The table below gives average temperatures and precipitation levels for the
reference period.
Climate data for Lille ( averages)
Record high °C (°F)
Average high °C (°F)
Daily mean °C (°F)
Average low °C (°F)
Record low °C (°F)
mm (inches)
Average precipitation days
Average snowy days
Mean monthly
Source #1:
Source #2: Infoclimat.fr (humidity, snowy days )
Lille chamber of commerce
A former major ,
and textile manufacturing centre as well as a retail and finance center, Lille forms the heart of a larger conurbation, regrouping Lille, ,
and , which is France's 4th-largest urban conglomeration with a 1999 population of over 1.1 million.
For centuries, Lille, a city of merchants, has displayed a wide range of incomes: great wealth and poverty have lived side by side, especially until the end of the 1800s. This contrast was noted by
in 1851 in his poem : <<&#160;Caves de Lille&#160;! on meurt sous vos plafonds de pierre&#160;!&#160;>> ("Cellars of Lille! We die under your stone ceilings!")
Employment in Lille has switched over half a century from a predominant industry to tertiary activities and services. Services account for 91% of employment in 2006.
Employment in Lille-Hellemmes-Lomme from 1968 to 2006
Business area
Agriculture
Industry and engineering
Tertiary activities
Sources of data&#160;:
Employment per categories in 1968 and in 2006
Businesspersons,
entrepreneurs
Upper class
Middle class
Blue-collar worker
Greater Lille
Sources of data&#160;: INSEE
Unemployment in active population from 1968 to 2006
Greater Lille
2,1&#160;%
3,8&#160;%
7,4&#160;%
10,1&#160;%
11,7&#160;%
10,6&#160;%
Sources of data&#160;: INSEE
In 2007, Lille hosts around 21,000 industry or service sites.
Enterprises as per 31 December 2007
Size category
Mean number of employees
Greater Lille
100 to 499
Industries
Construction
Transports
Real property
Business services
Services to consumers
Education and health
Administration
Sources of data&#160;: INSEE
EuraTechnologies cluster
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
is much more prominent.
Points of interest include
(Basilique-cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-la-Treille)
Main article:
Lille hosts an annual
on the first weekend in September. Its origins are thought to date back to the twelfth century and between two and three million visitors are drawn into the city. It is one of the largest gatherings of France and the largest
in Europe.
Many of the roads in the inner city (including much of the old town) are closed and local shops, residents and traders set up stalls in the street.
Column of the Goddess
Lille Grand Place.
(newspaper offices)
Lille Grand Place
Thé?tre Sébastopol
Lion d'or square
Porte de Roubaix
Rihour palace
H?tels particuliers rue Négrier, Vieux-Lille
Lille metro
Main article:
has a mixed mode public transport system, which is considered one of the most modern in the whole of France. It comprises buses, trams and a driverless
system, all of which are operated under the Transpole name. The
system (véhicule automatique léger = light automated vehicle) that opened on 16 May 1983, becoming the first automatic metro line in the world. The metro system has two lines, with a total length of 45 kilometres (28 miles) and 60 stations. The tram system consists of two interurban tram lines, connecting central Lille to the nearby communities of
and , and has 45 stops. 68 urban bus routes cover the metropolis, 8 of which reach into Belgium.
Lille Flandres railway station
Lille is an important crossroads in the European
network. It lies on the
line to London (1:20 hour journey). The French
network also puts it only 1 hour from Paris, 38 minutes from Brussels, and connects to other major centres in France such as Marseille, Lyon, and Toulouse. Lille has two railway stations, which stand next door to one another: Lille-Europe station (), which primarily serves high-speed trains and international services (Eurostar), and Lille-Flandres station (), which primarily serves lower speed regional trains and regional
Lille: motorway network.
Five autoroutes pass by Lille, the densest confluence of highways in France after Paris:
&#160;: Lille – Tournai – Brussels / Liège – Germany
&#160;: Lille – Valenciennes
&#160;: Lille – Arras – Paris / Reims – Lyon / Orléans / Le Havre
&#160;: Lille – Dunkirk – Calais – England / North Belgium
&#160;: Lille – Antwerp – Netherlands
A sixth one – the proposed A24 – will link Amiens to Lille if built, but there is opposition to its route.
is 15 minutes from the city centre by car (11&#160;km). In terms of shipping, it ranks fourth, with almost 38,000 tonnes of freight which pass through each year.[] Its passenger traffic, around 1.2 millions a year in 2010, is modest due to the proximity to Brussels, Charleroi, and Paris-CDG airports. The airport mostly connects other French and European cities (some with low cost companies) as well as Mediterranean destinations.
Port de Lille
Lille is the third largest French river port after Paris and . The river
is connected to regional waterways with over 680&#160;km (423&#160;mi) of navigable waters. The De?le connects to Northern Europe via the River
and the River
(towards Belgium and the Netherlands), and internationally via the
(to Dunkerque and ).
Shipping statistics
Millions of tonnes
By river or sea
With over 110,000 students, the metropolitan area of Lille is one of France's top student cities.
With roots back from 1562 to 1793 as
(Université de Douai), then as Université Impériale in 1808, the State Université of Lille () was established in Lille in 1854 with
as the first dean of its Faculty of Sciences. A school of medicine and an engineering school were also established in Lille in 1854. The Université de Lille was united as the association of existing public Faculties in 1887 and was split into three independent university campuses in 1970, including:
, also referred-to as
with law, management, sports and medical faculties,
with humanities and social sciences courses.
The , an engineering graduate school of industrial and mechanical engineering, settled in Lille in 1900. This campus is one of the eight Teaching and Research Center (CER) of the school. Its creation was decided by .
is one of the five
in F it was founded in Lille city in 1854, its graduate engineering education and research center was established as
(IDN) in 1872, in 1968 it moved in a modern campus in Lille suburb.
was established as Institut de chimie de Lille in 1894 supporting chemistry research as followers of 's breakthrough works in Lille.
established in 1892 is ranked among the top business schools in France.
settled in Lille in 2009.
settled in Lille in 2012.
is a Business Management school established in Lille in 1990.
political studies institute was established in Lille in 1992.
is also located in Lille.
(ISEG Group) established in Lille in 1988.
is headquartered in
and includes 3,000 PhD Doctorate students supported by university research laboratories.
- located in nearby Roubaix - is one of the few Grandes ?cole located outside the Paris Metropolitan Area. It is one of Europe's fastest rising business schools.
was founded in 1875. Today it has law, economics, medicine, physics faculties and schools. Among the most famous is
(ICAM) founded in 1898, ranked 20th among engineering schools, with the specificity of graduating polyvalent engineers,
(HEI) a school of engineering founded in 1885 and offering 10 fields of specialization,
(EDHEC) founded in 1906,
currently ranked within the top 5, the top 10 and top 15 business schools in France, respectively. In 1924 ESJ – a leading journalism school – was established.
(1914-), writer and professor
(), geologist and palaeontologist
(), mathematician and physicist
(), scientists who discovered the antituberculosis vaccine
(1923–present), mathematician and physicist
(), mathematician
(), biologist
(), researcher on fluid dynamics
, (), chemist professor
(), naturalist
(), physician to King , scientist
(), mathematician
(), mathematician and politician
, (), micro-biologist
in physics
(), actress.
(or Alanus ab Insulis) (c. ), French theologian and poet
, (), intellectual and writer
(), painter
painter and friend of
(d. 1959), artist and , editor of the
illustrated art-editions
(), animal artist and sculptor
(1925–), television presenter, minister, writer, and member of the
(), photographer
(), textile worker who composed the music of
(), singer
(), pianist, conductor and composer who studied under
(), songwriter
(), painter
(), director
(1928–), actress
(), doctor most famous for treating the painter
(1980– ), rap singer, hits success in 2006 in France with the funny "rural-rap" Marly-Gomont
(), composer
(b. 1982), actress
(born 1942) photographer, make-up artist, interior and set designer, creator of perfumes and fashion designer
(1912-), artist
(1977–), rapper and singer whose family originally was from
is very popular in Lille
, (620–?) legendary founder of the city
, (? –1244), Countess
, (circa 1580), resistance fighter during the Hurlu attacks
(), physician and
(), general, founder of the city of
and senator
(), general, resistance fighter,
(), minister, deputy, and
(), minister, deputy, resistance fighter, and Mayor of Lille
fighter – Legion of Honor, Croix de Guerre,
(), deputy, senator, , and Mayor of Lille
(1950–), deputy, minister, and Mayor of Lille
, footballer
, footballer
, footballer
, footballer
, footballer
, footballer
, basketball player
, footballer
, footballer
, footballer
, footballer
Local newspapers include
France's national public television network has a channel that focuses on the local area:
The city's most major
club, , currently plays in , the highest level of . The club has won eight major national trophies and regularly feature in the
and . In the , Lille won the
It was in Lille that the 100th
took place, in 2015.
Lille is partnered with:
, Luxembourg
, United Kingdom
, Netherlands
, Israel (frozen)
, United States
But not according to the official website of Lille!
. Paris: Insee (Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques) 2015.
. Paris: Insee (Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques) 2015.
. Paris: Insee (Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques). 27 February .
(in French). Courtrai, Belgium: Agence de l’Eurométropole 2015.
Eric Bocquet.
(in French). Courtrai, Belgium: Agence de l’Eurométropole 2015.
Theodore Zeldin, France, , vol. 2, Intellect, Taste and Anxiety (1977) pp 2:270-71.
Wallart, Claudine.
Remembrance Trails of the Great War. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
. mairie-lille.fr.
(in French). Meteo France 2014.
(in French). Meteo France 2014.
(in French). Paris: Insee (Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques). .
(in French). Paris: Insee (Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques). .
(in French). Paris: Insee (Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques). .
(in French). Paris: Insee (Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques). .
. mairie-lille.fr.
. mairie-lille.fr.
. La mairie de Lille. Archived from
on 31 January .
. mairie-lille.fr.
L'Optimisation du réseau de formation initiale d'enseignement supérieur en région, rapport de M. Alain Lottin Au Conseil Economique et Social Régional Présenté lors de la séance plénière du 7 novembre 2006.
8 April 2011 at the .
(in French). H?tel de Ville de Lille 2015.
. Archant Community Media Ltd 2013.
(in French). Saint Ouen Cedex, France: Le Parisien. 7 October .
Pessotto, Lorenzo. . International Affairs Service in cooperation with Servizio Telematico Pubblico. City of Torino. Archived from
on 18 June .
. Washington, USA: SisterCities International 2015.
Codaccioni, Félix-Paul (1976). De l'inégalité sociale dans une grande ville industrielle, le drame de Lille de 1850 à 1914. Lille: ?ditions Universitaires, Université de Lille 3. &#160;.
Collectif (1999). Lille, d'un millénaire à l'autre (Fayard ed.). &#160;.
Despature, Perrine (2001). Le Patrimoine des Communes du Nord (Flohic ed.). &#160;.
Duhamel, Jean-Marie (2004). Lille, Traces d'histoire. Les patrimoines. La Voix du Nord. &#160;.
Gérard, Alain (1991). Les grandes heures de Lille. Perrin. &#160;.
Legillon, P Dion, Jacqueline (1975). Lille&#160;: portrait d'une cité. Axial.
Lottin, Alain (2003). Lille – D'Isla à Lille-Métropole. Histoire des villes du Nord. La Voix du Nord. &#160;.
Maitrot, E Cary, Sylvie (2007). Lille secret et insolite. Les Beaux Jours. &#160;.
Marchand, Philippe (2003). Histoire de Lille. Jean-Paul Gisserot. &#160;.
Monnet, Catherine (2004). Lille&#160;: portrait d'une ville. Jacques Marseille. &#160;.
Paris, D Mons, Dominique (2009). Lille Métropole, Laboratoire du renouveau urbain. Parenthèses. &#160;.
Pierrard, Pierre (1979). Lille, dix siècles d'histoire. Stock. &#160;.
Trenard, Louis (1981). Histoire de Lille de Charles Quint à la conquête fran?aise (). Toulouse: Privat. &#160;.
Versmée, Gwenaelle (2009). Lille méconnu. Jonglez. &#160;.
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