Lille Cathedral

Lille Cathedral, the Basilica of Notre Dame de la Treille (French: Basilique-cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-la-Treille de Lille), is a Roman Catholic church and basilica in Lille, France, and the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Lille. An example of Gothic Revival architecture, the cathedral is considered a national monument. The church was built in honour of the Virgin Mary and takes its name from a 12th-century statue of the saint that has miraculous properties ascribed to it. The project of its construction, which was carried out by a commission that brought together representatives of the clergy and lay members of the upper middle class such as fr:Charles Kolb-Bernard, had a twofold objective. The first was to rebuild a large church in the heart of the city, after the destruction of the Collegiate Church of St. Peter during the French Revolution, which had housed the statue of Our Lady of the Treille for more than six hundred years. The second was to establish an episcopal see in Lille, which then belonged to the Archdiocese of Cambrai. This creation was considered essential to establish the city's status as a religious capital and to serve the growing population during the period of the Industrial Revolution. The building was therefore designated from the outset to be a future cathedral. Its construction, which spanned nearly a hundred and fifty years, began in 1854 with the laying of a foundation stone and the launch of an international competition for the design of a building inspired by the "Gothic style of the first half of the 13th century". Of the 41 submissions made, the first two prizes were awarded to English projects. However, the idea of entrusting the construction of a church in honour of the Virgin to foreign architects of an Anglican confession raised objections. Therefore, the realization of...