Lille Cathedral

About

Notre-Dame-de-la-Treille Cathedral in Lille is a cathedral in the French department of northern France. In a neo-Gothic style, it is located in the Old Lille district, on the site of the old castral mot. Raised in honor of the Virgin Mary under the name of Notre-Dame-de-la-Treille, by the name of a miraculous statue that has been the subject of a particular devotion to Lille since the 13th century, the cathedral was originally only a votive chapel.

The project of its construction, carried out by a commission which brings together representatives of the clergy and the industrial high bourgeoisie created in 1853 by Charles Kolb-Bernard, a true lay leader of Lille Catholicism, meets a dual objective. First, rebuild a large church in the heart of the city, after the destruction during the French Revolution of the Collège Saint-Pierre, which had housed the statue of Notre-Dame-de-la-Treille for more than six hundred years. Then, promote the creation of an episcopal seat in Lille, which then belongs to the archdiocese of Cambrai, a creation deemed indispensable to establish the status of religious capital of the city and to have the necessary resources...