Place du Général-de-Gaulle (Lille)

The Column of the Goddess is the popular name given by the citizens of Lille (France) to the Memorial of the Siege of 1792. The memorial is still in the center of the Grand′ Place (central square) of Lille, and has been surrounded by a fountain since around 1990.

The siege of Lille (12 August – 10 December 1708) was the salient operation of the 1708 campaign season during the War of the Spanish Succession. After an obstinate defence of 120 days, the French garrison surrendered the city and citadel of Lille, commanded by Marshal Boufflers, to the forces of the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene. The siege was famous among contemporaries for l'affaire des poudres ("the gunpowder incident"), where the Chevalier de Luxembourg with 2,000 horsemen passed through the Allied lines and succeeded in delivering 40,000 pounds of desperately needed gunpowder to the defenders. The siege was made possible by the defeat of the French army at the Battle of Oudenarde and the landing in Ostend of large amounts of ammunition and food after the Battle of Wijnendale. Initially, the allies were divided over which cities should be targeted following the battle of Oudenaarde. Bernaldo de Quirós, a Spanish nobleman who had sided with the Allies after the battle of Ramillies, proposed the siege of Mons and Charleroi to secure Brabant and clear the way to France. Instead, under pressure from the English government, Marlborough insisted on capturing Ypres. However, Eugene and the Dutch deputies favoured an attack on Lille. Eugene argued that the capture of this city was crucial for a successful invasion of France. In addition to this, the Dutch deputies had other good reasons for their preference for Lille. After its conquest by the French in 1667, Lille had become one of the most important French cities and the wealthy city paid a large part of the French war chest. In addition, much of the booty captured by the Dunkirk Privateers from the allied merchant fleets ended up in Lille. A capture of this city would be a major blow to the French king. For most of the campaign, Eugene commanded the forces besieging Lille, while Marlborough commanded the forces covering those forces against external French interference. For a short period in late September however, after Eugene was injured on the 21st, Marlborough took command of both the besiegers and the covering force. On 22 October the Allies entered the city at the staggering cost of 12,000 casualties; Boufflers continued to resist from Lille's citadel for several weeks, exacting an additional 4,000 allied casualties. While the allies' deft manoeuvring frustrated French attempts to relieve the strategically important fortress—the last substantial French bastion in northern Flanders—Boufflers' valiant defence likewise prolonged the siege well into winter, to the point where no operations could be undertaken against France that year. The French garrison of Lille capitulated on 10 December and the remaining defenders marched out with full honours of war, and Boufflers was decorated by Louis XIV. For France, the results of the siege were mixed. The city's stubborn defence tied down Marlborough for the remainder of the 1708 campaigning season, preventing him from inflicting further damage on France in the aftermath of Oudenarde. But, with the loss of Lille, northern Flanders reverted to allied control; the Allies moved against Ghent, taking the city in late December. The fall of Lille also opened a corridor for an allied invasion of France in 1709, although this effort would be slowed down by the bloody battle of Malplaquet.

The Métropole Européenne de Lille (MEL; English: "European Metropolis of Lille") is the métropole, an intercommunal structure, composed by a network of big cities (Lille, Roubaix, Tourcoing, Villeneuve d'Ascq, Armentières etc.) whose major city is the city of Lille. It is located in the Nord department, in the Hauts-de-France region, northern France – bordering both the Flemish and Walloon regions of Belgium. It was created in January 2015, replacing the previous Communauté urbaine de Lille, and covers that part of the Lille metropolitan area that lies in France. Its area is 671.9 km2. Its population was 1,179,050 in 2019, of which 234,475 in Lille proper. The annual budget of the métropole is €1,865 billion (2018).

The Opéra de Lille is a neo-classical opera house, built from 1907 to 1913 and officially inaugurated in 1923. Closed for renovation in 1998 it reopened in 2003 for Lille 2004. The Opéra de Lille is a member of the European Network for Opera, Music and Dance Education (RESEO), and of Opera Europa. It is served by the metro stations Gare Lille-Flandres and Rihour.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lille (Latin: Archidioecesis Insulensis; French: Archidiocèse de Lille) is an archdiocese of the Latin Church of the Roman Catholic Church in France. Its cathedral episcopal see is a Marian Minor Basilica: Basilique-cathédrale Notre-Dame de la Treille, in Lille, Nord, Hauts-de-France.

Lille Cathedral, the Basilica of Notre Dame de la Treille (French: Basilique-cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-la-Treille de Lille), is a Roman Catholic church and basilica in Lille, France, and the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Lille. An example of Gothic Revival architecture, the cathedral is considered a national monument. The church was built in honor of the Virgin Mary and takes its name from a 12th-century statue of the saint that has miraculous properties ascribed to it. The project of its construction, which was carried out by a commission that brought together representatives of the clergy and lay members of the upper middle class such as fr:Charles Kolb-Bernard, had a twofold objective. The first was to rebuild a large church in the heart of the city, after the destruction of the Collegiate Church of St. Peter during the French Revolution, which had housed the statue of Our Lady of the Treille for more than six hundred years. The second was to establish an episcopal see in Lille, which then belonged to the Archdiocese of Cambrai. This creation was considered essential to establish the city's status as a religious capital and to serve the growing population during the period of the Industrial Revolution. The building was therefore designated from the outset to be a future cathedral. Its construction, which spanned nearly a hundred and fifty years, began in 1854 with the laying of a foundation stone and the launch of an international competition for the design of a building inspired by the "Gothic style of the first half of the 13th century". Of the 41 submissions made, the first two prizes were awarded to English projects. However, the idea of entrusting the construction of a church in honor of the Virgin to foreign architects of an Anglican confession raised objections. Therefore, the realization of the project fell into the hands of Lille architect Charles Leroy. The construction of the church faced many difficulties, especially to raise the necessary funds for the continuation of the work. The cathedral was built in stages under the direction of several generations of architects from 1856 to 1975. It was completed in 1999 by the installation of a modern facade, with part of the initial program having been abandoned. Pope Pius IX granted a decree of Pontifical coronation towards the Marian statue enshrined within the church on 15 June 1874. The rite of coronation was carried out by the Archbishop of Cambrai, René-François Régnier as Papal legate on 21 June 1874. Originally a simple church, it was given the title of minor basilica by Pope Pius X on 7 October 1904. The same Pontiff on 25 October 1913, via the Papal bull “Consistotiali Decreto”, the Archdiocese of Cambrai was split to create the diocese of Lille, with the basilica serving as its new cathedral. In 2008, following the reorganization of the ecclesiastical provinces of France, the diocese of Lille was elevated to the status of metropolis and the cathedral became a metropolitan cathedral, seat of the Archbishop of Lille.

The Church of Saint-Étienne, Lille (French: Église Saint-Étienne de Lille) is a Roman Catholic church located on the rue de l'Hôpital Militaire in Lille, France. It has been classed as a monument historique since 1987 and is dedicated to Saint Stephen. It is one of the largest Jesuit churches in France.

The Église Saint-Maurice is a church on Rue Pierre-Mauroy, in the historic centre of Lille, northern France. Its construction began at the end of the 14th century and completed at the end of the 19th century, and it was extended over more than four centuries. A hall church in the Gothic style, it was made a monument historique in 1914.

The Hospice Comtesse or Hospice Notre-Dame is a 17th-century hospice on Rue de la Monnaie in the Old Town area of Lille, France, first built in 1236 by Joan, Countess of Flanders. It is now a museum on the history of the hospice. The museum's collections include ceramics, paintings and furniture.

The canton of Lille-1 is an administrative division of the Nord department, northern France. It was created at the French canton reorganisation which came into effect in March 2015. Its seat is in Lille.It consists of the following communes: Lille (partly) La Madeleine Marquette-lez-Lille Saint-André-lez-Lille Wambrechies

The Conservatoire de Lille is a music school in Lille, France. Founded in 1803, it was originally set out as a music conservatory, later branching out into theatre and dance in the second half of the 20th century.The conservatory took the place of the Abbey St Pierre, sold and destroyed after the French Revolution. Construction of the building was completed in 1808. The large auditorium (Oval Room) was redesigned in 1897 by Émile Vandenbergh. The renovated parts of the building were completed on 27 February 1988, the organist Philippe Lefebvre then being director.Pupils at the academy are aged between 5 and 12 years, and are not exclusively from the city of Lille itself. As of 2014, it had around 2,000 students and 140 staff.It has a 400-seat auditorium and a library with over 40,000 works in a variety of media. Regular concerts and performances are held there, starring both alumni and third parties. Former students include the actor Hugo Becker and composer Marcelle Villin.The building has been referred to repeatedly in the publication La Symphonie Dans La Cité: Lille Au XIXe Siècle by Guy Gosselin.

The Lille Braderie (French: Braderie de Lille) is a braderie, or annual street market/flea market, that takes place on the weekend of the first Sunday of September in Lille, France, in the northern Hauts-de-France region. Its dates back to the 12th century, welcoming nearly three million visitors each year. The Braderie de Lille is one of the largest gatherings in France and the largest flea market in Europe. The braderie has a 100km of aisles for 10,000 exhibitors.This event is surrounded by concerts, a fun fair, a half-marathon that precedes it, increased catering in the city (various mobile stands added to the local restaurants, Moules-frites (the traditional dish), and regional beers). It is an opportunity for many (especially for the students of Lille) to party all night in the city and its many bars. Resulting in slowly growing heaps of restaurant mussels shells. The 2016 market was cancelled by the mayor Martine Aubry due to security fears because of recent terrorism in France.