Tourist attractions Armentières

Renovated with love, the old town has rediscovered its 17 and 18C facades not long ago covered in disgraceful render. This has led to evidence of the «Lille style» with facades where bricks and sculpted stones are mixed. You'll discover many examples..

Built between 1887 and 1892, this summer palace was extended in the 1990s by the architects Jean-Marc Ibos et Myrto Vitart to include a narrow 70m x 6.50m building, the glass façade of which reflects the image of the back of the main building. The ga..

This was built in 1652-1653 by Julien Destrée at the request of the Lille businessmen who wanted a Stock Exchange to rival that of Holland. It's made out of 24 dormer windowed houses set out around a rectangular courtyard which acted as a centre for ..

Opened in 1998, this innovatively-designed museum provides a captivating history of the First World War using audio-visual techniques, and has over 3 000 accounts of the experiences of individuals (soldiers, nurses, refugees, children etc) of over 50..

Extended and modernised, the former Musée d’Art Moderne Lille Métropole now has a new name and twice its original exhibition space. The collection of raw art is now on permanent display, and the Dominique Bozo library, dedicated to modern, contempora..

Housed in the vaulted rooms of the Château de Robersart (built in Renaissance style at the end of the 18C and restored in 1995), this museum contains a superb collection of dolls and toys dating from the mid-19C to the 1960s: model trains, miniature ..

Having taken Lille, Louis XIV, quickly built a citadel. Vauban handled the plans. 2000 men were given shovels and pickaxes. The site comprises five semi-circular strongholds which are still occupied by the army. The royal gateway leads to the Weapon ..

Charles de Gaulle was born here on the 22nd of November 1890 in this house where his maternal grandfather had a lace workshop. The studio and the house have been transformed into a museum between them possessing a vast amount of documents and memento..

These magnificent buildings dating from the 15C to the 18C began life as a hospital, and went on to be used as a hospice and then an orphanage. Once through the monumental sandstone doorway, you come to the Salle des Malades (1470) with its superb ..

Antique dealers and decorators have put a lot into this street which used to play host to a Mint. The left hand side is made up of 18C houses with decorated façades (mortar and alembic and in an old apothecary featuring dolphins, wheat sheaf, palm tr..

This wholesale greengrocer's house, built in 1636 is a superb example of Flemish Baroque style. Its lavish decoration contains corner irons and jutting pediments. The house used to contain a gateway onto the River Basse-Deûle which was knocked down i..

Dominated by the old Stock Exchange, the Grand'Garde - the building with the ornamented pediment containing the daily newspaper quotidian La Voix du Nord - this is the lively centre of the town. In the centre Goddess's column symbolises the heroic re..

This is a beautiful example of a church-hall, on which building started in the 15C. It has five naves, five roofs and five gables. Inside you will see a Christ of pity «Jesus scourged», often covered up with a velvet robe. In the area surrounding the..

This portal by Simon Vollant, put up between 1685 and 1692, served as the town gateway (it was part of the ramparts) and arc de triomphe. The arc de triomphe was built in honour of Louis XIV , secured by his Victory at the summit.

The long rectangular cloth halls, surrounding two narrow courtyards, were completed in 1304, then rebuilt in sandstone in the original style after First World War destruction. Seen from the Grand-Place Albert 1, their 133m-long façade is broken by a ..

Rebuilt in the Twenties, its stained-glass windows reflect old local industries: weaving, spinning and the brewing of beer. A view over the town from the top of the belfry terrace.

This 159m-high wooded hill belongs to the Flanders Uplands that lie on both sides of the border. There was bitter fighting in the area in April 1918, at the start of the last great German offensive. The climb up the hill provides fine views of the co..

This is the old Jesuit style chapel of arms. On the 22nd November 1890, the young Charles de Gaulle was baptised here and the same year the church was given a tower.

The attractions around the ramparts include a zoo, some tropical houses and some games areas for children.

Running the length of the Deûle canal, there is a park that is designed in the Second Empire style, with sinuous paths, flowery banks and a statue of the local poet A. Samian (1859-1906).