Mug Shot — «Lille - Chamber of Commerce»

City: Lille Country: France Edition: 2008 Icon Edition Belongs to: 245 users (18 trading, 79 seeking)

Lille is a city in the North of France. It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole. Lille is situated in French Flanders, 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. It is the fifth-largest urban area in France after Paris, Lyon, Marseille, and Toulouse. Archeological digs seem to show the area as inhabited by as early as 2000 BC, most notably in the modern-day quartiers of Fives, Wazemmes, and Old Lille. The original inhabitants of this region were the Gauls, who were followed by Germanic peoples: the Saxons, the Frisians and the Franks. The legend of "Lydéric and Phinaert" puts the foundation of the city of Lille at 640. In the 8th century, the language of Old Low Franconian was spoken here, as attested by toponymic research. From 830 until around 910, the Vikings invaded Flanders. After the destruction caused by Norman and Magyar invasion, the eastern part of the region was ruled by various local princes. The first mention of the town dates from 1066. At the time, it was controlled by the County of Flanders, as were the regional cities. The County of Flanders thus extended to the left bank of the Scheldt, one of the richest and most prosperous regions of Europe.

Chamber of Commerce was created in 1701 by Louis XIV, the Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie had its headquarters in different parts of the town before a building was purposely built for holding it in the face of rapid industrial development. Situated at the entrance of the boulevard Carnot, opened in 1909 by the engineer Alfred Mongy to link Lille to Roubaix and Tourcoing, this building is the work of the Lille architect Louis-Marie Cordonnier, who constructed the Opéra as well as the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. Designed in a neo-regionalist style, the building is directly inspired by the rang du Beauregard situated just opposite. Towering at 76 metres high, the belfry embodies the power and the might of European market cities.

edited by mobydick74
photo by lucky robles

  France, Lille

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