There are some cities that are best discovered by taking a step back first. In Lille, the City Tour offers precisely this initial panoramic overview, before you continue exploring on foot and step inside its museums.
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The visitor leaves the magnificent Palais Rihour, a legacy of the Dukes of Burgundy, on a tour that takes in the key milestones in Lille’s history and architecture. From Old Lille to the contemporary neighbourhoods, the route helps you get your bearings, understand the city’s layout and identify the places you’ll want to return to. It was precisely for this reason that we chose to step inside the Palais des Beaux-Arts.
The Palais des Beaux-Arts: a journey through the centuries
On Place de la République, its monumental silhouette is impossible to miss. Built at the end of the 19th century, the Palace of Fine Arts dates from a time when the architecture of major public buildings was also expected to reflect the city’s prestige.
Inside, paintings, sculptures, drawings and works of art trace several centuries of European creativity and form one of the most important museum collections in France.
Among his major works, The Descent from the Cross of Rubens immediately makes a powerful dramatic impact. In it, the Flemish painter orchestrates gestures, glances and light around the body of Christ taken down from the cross.
A new era begins with Herod’s Feast of Donatello, a magnificent 15th-century marble relief. The work is one of the earliest examples of the use of linear perspective in Renaissance sculpture, drawing on research carried out in Florence concerning Brunelleschi. A new perspective now allows us to appreciate its depth and subtlety even more.
From Goya to Delacroix: a selection of masterpieces
The tour continues with The Old Women of Goya, painted around 1808–1812. Two elderly women, richly adorned, gaze at their reflections as if jewellery and finery could still ward off the passage of time. Beneath the satire lies a far darker reflection on old age and vanity.
With Medea of’Eugène Delacroix, painted in 1838, the drama takes on a new scale. In this monumental canvas, 2.60 metres high, Medea clutches her children to her as she prepares, in an act of vengeance against Jason, to do something that cannot be undone.
Claude Monet: The Houses of Parliament in London, stormy sky
Claude Monet had discovered London as early as 1870, but it was during his visits between 1899 and 1901 when he began his great London series. For the Parliament series, he worked from a terrace at St Thomas’s Hospital, on the opposite bank of the Thames, near Westminster Bridge. The monument itself was less his true subject than the ceaseless variations in light, mist and atmosphere. As with the Grinding wheels, the Cathedrals of Rouen or the Water Lilies, the motif becomes a pretext for capturing what changes from one moment to the next. The paintings are then taken back to his studio in Giverny to be finished. In the painting held in Lille, entitled The Parliament in London, stormy sky, the monument is now nothing more than a dark, almost unreal silhouette. Its outlines fade into an atmosphere where the sky, the water and the mist seem to merge. The fragmented brushstrokes and the vibrancy of the colour lend the mist an almost tangible presence.
Miniature towns beneath the Palace
Perhaps the most unexpected discovery at the Palais des Beaux-Arts is to be found in its rich collection of relief maps: extraordinary historical models depicting fortified towns, mainly in northern France, which were designed for military purposes between the 17th and 19th centuries.
The collection held in Lille now comprises fourteen relief maps covering some 400 m². Ramparts, bastions, gates, streets, houses, surrounding villages, watercourses and even the vegetation: everything is reproduced with fascinating attention to detail. Viewed from above, the towns suddenly become gigantic miniature dioramas in which the entire history of military architecture is laid bare.
In Raphael’s studio
Another of the museum’s treasures is its drawing collection, which houses an exceptional collection of , including 16 double-sided drawings, bequeathed to the city in 1834 by the Lille-based painter and collector Jean-Baptiste Wicar. These drawings span a crucial period in the master’s career, from his early years around 1500 to the years 1512–1514, taking him from Perugia to Rome via Florence. More than simply finished works, they offer a glimpse into the inner workings of his creative process: Raphael experiments with a pose, refines a face, and develops a composition before transposing it onto canvas. Among the most remarkable pieces is a study for the Madonna of Alba, produced around 1511–1512, in which several preliminary sketches appear on a single sheet. Even older still, a preparatory study for the altarpiece of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino, commissioned from the young Raphael in 1500, is of particular importance: as the painting was largely destroyed by an earthquake in 1789, the drawing in Lille provides a valuable insight into the painter’s original design. A rare opportunity to discover not merely Raphael alongside his masterpieces, but Raphael at work, at the very moment when they were taking shape.
Seated, draped man, Raphaël.
Camille Claudel: The Power of the Portrait
In the sculpture gallery, Camille Claudel is well worth a closer look. In particular, the museum houses the Head of Giganti, a bronze sculpture created between 1885 and 1892. The face, rendered with vigour, already demonstrates the sculptor’s ability to go beyond mere resemblance and bring out the model’s personality. The work was, in fact, exhibited as early as 1885 at the Salon des Artistes Français.
More intimate, the Bust of Louise Claudel, created in terracotta in 1885, depicts his elder sister, Louise, the future Madame de Massary. The delicate modelling of the face and the attention paid to the expression reveal another facet of her art: a sensitive style of sculpture, attentive to the model’s presence and psychology. This early work also demonstrates just how important portraiture was in Camille Claudel’s oeuvre from a very early stage.
Ancient Rome at your fingertips
A change of era and tone, with a striking virtual reality re-enactment: Eclipso. Here, to travel through time, all you have to do is put on a headset.
For 35 minutes, « The Colosseum, the Legendary Arena »transports visitors to the heart of ancient Rome through a 360-degree immersive experience. A street appears, then a market; locals go about their daily business: gradually, the imperial city comes to life around us.".
The exhibition invites us to follow Caius, a young Roman fascinated by the heroes of the arena. Through his eyes, we discover everyday life before moving on to the Colisée. But the experience does more than just show us the stands: it takes us right down into the underground passages, where men and animals would wait before being thrust into the arena.
Then comes the most spectacular moment: the visitor finds themselves standing alongside Flamma, a gladiator who became famous for his many battles. The arena stretches out all around us and, for a few moments, the line between spectacle and history seems to blur.
Fromelles: when history takes on a human face
Just a few kilometres from Lille, the atmosphere changes completely. The Fromelles Battle Museum takes us back to one of the bloodiest episodes of the First World War.
On 19 and 20 July 1916, British and Australian forces launched an offensive against the German positions at Fromelles. In less than twenty-four hours, the losses were considerable: nearly 8,500 men were killed, wounded, taken prisoner or reported missing, including more than 5,000 Australians. But the story told here does not end in 1916.
An investigation nearly a century after the battle
In 2009, archaeological excavations carried out near the Bois des Faisans unearthed the remains of 250 British and Australian soldiers, who had been buried in mass graves since the battle.
And so began an extraordinary scientific and human endeavour. DNA analyses, British and Australian military archives, genealogical research and appeals to families were all cross-referenced in an attempt to give these men back their names. Almost a century after their disappearance, some of them are thus restored to their rightful identities, and their descendants finally have a place to pay their respects.
Opened in 2014 and awarded the ‘Musée de France’ designation, the Battle of Fromelles Museum tells this story by bringing together military history, archaeology and individual life stories.
The permanent exhibition, « From darkness to light », takes visitors from the battlefield to the archaeological excavations, and then on to the lengthy process of identification. Artefacts found on site, historical documents, reconstructions and digital displays help visitors to understand the ferocity of the offensive, but above all to put faces and stories to the figures.
This is undoubtedly what makes *Fromelles* so powerful: it tells the story of a battle not as a succession of military manoeuvres, but as a collection of lives cut short, which history, nearly a century later, is patiently attempting to bring to light.
Where to stay
Okko, a 4-star hotel in the heart of Lille
The Okko Hotel is situated at 13 Rue d’Amiens, right in the city centre, just a few minutes’ walk from the Grand-Place and Vieux-Lille. A strategic location, of course, but that alone doesn’t explain why this hotel makes you want to extend your stay a little. Everything is within walking distance, which, in a city, is almost a luxury. Lille-Flandres station isn’t far away either.
The hotel has 120 rooms spread over three floors. The overall design is contemporary, understated and carefully crafted by the Catoir Studio. There’s no show of grandeur here. Wood, soft colours, simple lines. In the bedrooms, space is optimised and the bathroom opens out widely onto the bedroom.
As well as its strategic location, its appeal also lies on the second floor. Welcome to the club.
The club is a lounge, workspace, dining room and relaxation area all in one. You can settle in with your laptop, have a drink, enjoy a snack or simply take the time to settle into an armchair. It’s also worth noting that an aperitif is offered in the evening and that the fitness centre and sauna are included in the room rate.
A place to bear in mind during your stay in Lille.
For more information
Lille Tourist Office
www.lilletourism.com
Imperial City Tour
Booking www.reservation.lilletourisme.com
Eclipso
www.eclipso-entertainment.com
Palace of Fine Arts
www.pba.lille.fr
Museum of the Battle of Fromelles
www.musee-bataille-fromelles.fr
Text : Laurence Grémy-Flamand
Photos : Lille Tourist Office and as indicated
Photo opening : Velvet/Commons.
