LILLE, VI (nem. Ryss,/). The capital of the Department of Nord, France, a first-class fortress, and one of the principal manufacturing centres of the Republic Frame. K ll• It is situated in a level district nn the navigable Penh. about 7 miles frt ur the ItelHan frontier, and 155 miles by rail north-northeast of Paris. Its fortifications. rebuilt almost during the nineteenth century. consi-t of an extensive enceinte with numerous forts, and the pentagonal citadel at the northwestern end of the town, de signed by Vauban. Lille is practically a modern town, the portion south of the Iltmlevard de la. Liberte (formerly the southern limit of the for titications, and now tile centre of the town t hav ing been annexed at the reconstruction of the for tifications in I555 66. It is well laid out. and has fine squares, averioes, and boulevards. which are traversed by a number of street railways. There are few ancient buildings of note: the principal churches are those of Saint Catharine. built dur ing the fifteenth, sixteenth, and eighteenth cen turies, and containing a painting by Rubens, "The Martyrdom of Saint La Made leine, and Saint Andrew, with paintings by Flem ish masters. The Church of Notre Dann- de la Treille, a grand edifice in the style of the thir teenth century begun in IS55, is still incomplete. The secular edifices include the llour-e, dating from 1652. with a court surrounded by arcades and containing a bronze statue of Napoleon I. by Lemaire; the modern town hall (1'147-59), with the communal library and a museum of engravings; and the prefectural building. The Palais des Beaux-Arts, opened in 1892. has one of the largest collections of paintings to be found in a provincial town in France, containing many canvases by Flemish, French. and Italian mas ters; a collection of about 1500 drawings, chiefly by the Dalian masters. collected by the painter Vicar, a native of Lille; collections of antiquities. sculptures. medals. and mins, and the tinted ethnographical collection of Moillet. Lille is well provided with educational institutions. The
chief of them are the State University. founded in NOR. with four faculties, an attendance of about 1150, and a library of over 70.000 the free Catholic University. with tfve faculties and an attendance of 550: a technical high school; a lyeee, an art school, a conservatory of music,a theatre, botanical and gardens. and several scientific associations. The library contains 100.000 volumes. nearly 1300 manuscripts, including about Dm incunabula. Lille has long been noted for its industrial aeticitv.especially in the textile industry. It is full of manufacturing establishments for the production of linen. velvet, ribbons. knit ware, rte., which form its chief products. There are also manulae tured machinery. various chemicals., soap. sugar, trimmed lumber, tobacco, oil. etc.
The trade in local manufactures, agricultural and colonial products is extensive. Lille is the seat of a number of foreign consular agents, in cluding one from the States. The popu lation of the town was largely augmented by the annexation of the sulaubs during the second half of the nineteenth century. From 75,000 in IS56 it rose to 201,211 in 1591, and 210,696 in 1901.
Lille grew up around the Castle of 'Rue in the eleventh century. It 'MIS fortified by Count Baldwin IV. of Flanders in 1030, and by the tuellthcentury had become one of the chief com mercial cities of Flanders and the centre of an extensive linen industry, It suffered much from the struggles between the counts of Flanders and the kings of Frame, and passed to the latter at the beginning of the fourteenth century. Lille regained its prosperity witdt its passing to the dukes of Burgundy in 130. it subsequently came into the possession of Spain, and was con quered by Louis .X IV. in 1667. It was gallantly defended by Entailers against Prince Eugene in 170S. hut was finally redneed. Another notable event in its annals is if s heroic resistance during the siege by the Austrians in 1792. Consult Van Ilende, Ilistoire de Lil• (Lille, 1S74).