Rihour Palace

The Rihour Palace, on the square of the same name, is the only remnant of the city’s Burgundian past. In fact, Lille has passed through several rulers, changing hands about every 2 centuries. In the Middle Ages it was part of the Kingdom of Flanders, later, it flourished under Philippe le Hardi and the Dukes of Burgundy. Bound by marriage to the Habsburgs, hence the Spanish Netherlands, it finally became French when the city was conquered by Louis XIV. So many rulership changes, well, from now on it looks like, Lille is just going to stay French… What interests us here is the Burgundian period. Philip le hardi, the bold in English, wanted to turn Lille into a beautiful capital and build a great palace. He reclaimed this land, then part the countryside on the outskirts of the medieval city, and built a huge complex for his entire court. It housed about a thousand people, making it much larger than what remains of it. Over time, the palace was abandoned and later suffered a series of disasters and fires, so many that in the 19th century it was decided to demolish a large part of it and build the Town Hall in its place. The only remains are the chapel and the guardroom. The main staircase was completely dismantled and rebuilt on the side of the chapel. This is now the entrance to the tourist office.