Tours · Lila · Palace

Palais Rihour

A rare survivor of flamboyant Gothic Lille, this fifteenth century palace was raised for the powerful dukes of Burgundy and today shelters the city tourist office. Only its chapel, Gothic staircase and guardroom escaped the fires that destroyed the rest.

Sobre este lugar

Begun in 1453 on the orders of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, the Palais Rihour was one of the most ambitious princely residences of its age, a statement of the fabulous wealth of the Burgundian court that then ruled Lille. Philip moved in around 1463 and his son Charles the Bold completed the work roughly a decade later, creating a vast complex centred on a magnificent great hall used for banquets and ceremonies. After Lille became French under Louis the Fourteenth, the palace was turned into the town hall in 1664. Successive fires, including a devastating blaze in 1916 during the First World War, reduced the enormous residence to a handful of rooms. Today the surviving guardroom, the flamboyant Gothic staircase and the ducal chapel house the Lille tourist office, a quiet and atmospheric starting point just steps from the city's great squares.

Datos clave

  • 1453 year — Philip the Good ordered the palace built after his old residence burned
  • 1664 year — The former ducal palace became the town hall of Lille
  • 3 survivals — Only the chapel, staircase and guardroom escaped centuries of fire

📍 Place Rihour, 59800, Lille

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