Grand'Place, place du Général de Gaulle in Lille

The Grand'Place, a must to discover in Lille.

Take advantage of your stay at the Hotel Morphée to discover the General de Gaulle square in Lille.
 

The main square of Lille

General de Gaulle Square is surrounded by majestic Flemish Renaissance and Baroque buildings with neoclassical facades. Also known as the Grand' Place, the square is a privileged meeting place for the people of Lille. This centre of social activity is filled with cafés and brasseries.

In the middle of the square, the monument of the Goddess commemorates Lille's resistance to the Austrian siege of September 1792. At the top of the column, the bronze Goddess holds in her right hand a wooden peg used to light the fuses of the cannons. An inscription engraved at the base of the column reads "This is the courageous response of the mayor of Lille, André, who refused to surrender the besieged city. "The goddess was sculpted in 1845 by Théophile Bra, who also made bas-reliefs on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

On the south side of the square is one of the most beautiful buildings in Lille, the Vieille Bourse, created in 1652. La Vieille Bourse consists of 24 houses surrounding an arcaded courtyard. In Flemish Baroque style, the courtyard is decorated with a monument to Napoleon I and is a centre of city life, where you can see the inhabitants playing chess and buying second-hand books.

Also in General de Gaulle Square is the Grande Garde, the former home of the sentry's soldiers, which has been converted into the Théâtre du Nord.