Lille Cathedral

Cathedral in Lille

CC BY-SA 4.0 / Velvet

The miraculous statue of the Virgin Mary of the Trellis was enshrined in the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter from the 13th century until the turbulence of the French Revolution in 1792. During the upheaval, the statue’s original gilded iron trellis was lost. Though the statue itself was recovered, it was relocated to the Church of Saint Catherine, where a wooden trellis was installed to replace the lost one.

In 1853, inspired by a desire to honor Our Lady of the Treille, Charles-Kolb Bernard and his cousin formed a commission to build a grand new church. A site was selected in the heart of Lille, and the architectural vision drew heavily from 13th-century Gothic masterpieces such as Reims, Amiens, and Chartres. The scale was ambitious—designs called for a nave stretching 433 feet long and spires reaching 377 feet high. Budget constraints and the sheer scale of the plans delayed progress for decades, and the cathedral’s main façade was not completed until the 1990s.

The completed façade is strikingly modern: a 96-foot-high ogive arch clad in 110 panels of white marble, blending tradition with contemporary design. A rose window dedicated to the Resurrection by Ladislas Kijno crowns the entry, while the iron doors, crafted by Georges Jeanclos, lead into a towering neo-Gothic interior. The structure was ultimately realized through the vision of architects Pierre-Louis Carlier and Peter Rice. Beyond religious services, Lille Cathedral hosts concerts and cultural events, and its crypt houses a Center for Sacred Art. The cathedral is open year-round, and guided tours offer deeper insight into its art, history, and architecture.

The Lille Cathedral appears in our Complete Guide to Visiting Lille!

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