Discover Lille from our hotel

A city of extravagant architecture

Home to a number of European institutions, and the fourth largest city in France, Lille is full of charm and steeped in history. Legend has it that the city was founded in the year 640 by two giants, Lydéric and Phinaert, but the oldest documents to reference its name only date back to the 11th century. At the time, it was called Isla (from the Latin for "island"), because of the insular character it owed to being connected to other cities by the Deûle, a small navigable river which was used for trade with two major commercial centres: the regions of Flanders and Champagne. In the Middle Ages, Lille was part of the territory controlled by the counts of Flanders. One of the members of that dynasty would leave her mark on the city for ever. In the 13th century, the "good Countess Joan" set up a number of charities, including a hospital, the "Hospice", which is less than two minutes from the hotel.

Between the 14th and 16th centuries, as one family married into another, Lille came under the control of the House of Burgundy and then the Spanish Netherlands. In 1667, the armies of Louis XIV conquered the city and their commander, Sébastien Le Preste de Vauban, built the "queen of citadels" to defend the city. But this edifice was not enough to repel the armies of the European coalition in 1708, during the War of the Spanish Succession. It was only five years later, when the Treaty of Utrecht was signed, that Lille became a permanent part of France. This eventful past has left Lille with an extraordinary heritage which displays a multitude of influences.