Lille, capital of Flanders
Monday, 2 July 2012 - 01:07 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: European Union / Europäische Union General , European Union , European Capital of Culture
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Entrance to Vauban Citadelle © Mary Poppins
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Lille is a city in northern France (
French Flanders ). It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of
Paris ,
Lyon and
Marseille . Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France’s border with Belgium. It is the capital of the Nord-Pas de Calais region and the prefecture of the Nord department.
The city of Lille, which annexed Lomme on 27 February 2000, had a population of 226,014 at the 2006 census. Meanwhile, the Lille Métropole, which also includes Roubaix , Tourcoing and numerous suburban communities, had a population of 1,091,438. The eurodistrict of Lille-Kortrijk, which also includes the areas of the Belgian cities of Kortrijk , Tournai , Mouscron and Ypres , had 1,905,000 residents.
The Belfry of the Chamber of Commerce and the former Stock Exchange from the Place du Général de Gaulle © Rémih
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
Terraced house is much more prominent.
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 communes with Lille. In 1983, the
VAL , the world’s first automated rapid transit underground network, was opened. In 1993, a high-speed
TGV train line was opened, connecting Paris with Lille in one hour. This, with the opening of the
Channel Tunnel in 1994 and the arrival of the
Eurostar train , put Lille at the centre of a triangle connecting
Paris ,
London and
Brussels . Work on Euralille, 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
European Capital of Culture in 2004 , along with the Italian city of
Genoa .
Read more on
City of Lille ,
Lille Tourism ,
lille2004.com ,
Université Catholique de Lille ,
Université Charles-de-Gaulle – Lille 3 ,
Lille Airport and
Wikipedia Lille . Learn more about the
use of photos . To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facebook pages/Twitter accounts. In addition more and more destinations, tourist organizations and cultural institutions offer Apps for your Smart Phone or Tablet, to provide you with a mobile tourist guide (
Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State -
Weather report by weather.com -
Johns Hopkins University & Medicine - Coronavirus Resource Center -
Global Passport Power Rank -
Democracy Index -
GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank -
Global Competitiveness Report -
Corruption Perceptions Index -
Press Freedom Index -
World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index -
UN Human Development Index -
Global Peace Index -
Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index ). If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at
comment@wingsch.net . Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.
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