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A mad dream, the cathedral of Lille was born in the minds of the rich 19th century Lillois industrial families. They wished to build the most beautiful, richly decorated and perfect church in the 13th century gothic style, to house the statue of Our Lady of the Vineyard (Notre-Dame de la Treille), the kind patroness of the town since its origins. The first stone was laid on July 1st, 1854. The last was sealed in December 1999.

It was Saint Pius X who decided, in 1904, to raise the still unfinished church to the rank of basilica, before promulgating the foundation of the diocese of Lille in 1913, with the basilica as its cathedral.

A long-term and exacting building site, the ‘Treille’ as it is called, follows its predecessors from this point of view. The construction, encouraged by the eminent personality of Cardinal Lienart, suffered the tribulations which caused compromise and renouncement.

Last cathedral to be built in the 20th century, it is the fruit of traditional techniques and modern technologies. Effectively, the cathedral of Lille integrates an exuberant and grandiose neo-gothic architecture, never finished, with an Art Nouveau decor in the chapels, and finally a contemporary facade that is unique in style and materials.

A technical and attractive feat, using a metal-framework for an pointed arch enclosing 110 plates of thin translucent marble, white on the outside and giving a flamboyant orange light within the church. The sculptor Georges Jeanclos created the main porch with an astonishing decor of people sleeping within the lattice work of a gigantic vine.

Pilgrims, the faithful, tourists and visitors can discover the treasures kept within the cathedral and its crypts.