Citadelle de Lille

The Citadele of Lille, built on the orders of Louis XIV following his conquest of the city, was the work of Sébastien Leprestre, Marquis de Vauban. Its construction lasted three years, from 1667 to 1670, and it was originally a small town surrounded by five bastions forming a star (a circumvolution 2,200 metres long), for which sixty million bricks had to be baked and three million blocks of stone and seventy thousand feet of sandstone extracted from the quarries. Situated on the border with Flanders, it formed part of a double line of strongholds between Gravelines, Dunkirk and Maubeuge. It was the famous "Pré Carré", designed by Vauban and comprising 28 fortified towns, whose relief plans are on display at the Palais des Beaux-Arts.
The royal gate at the entrance bears an inscription in Latin praising the glory of the Sun King.
As the site is under army control, visits to the heart of the Citadelle can only be booked through the Lille Tourist Office.