General public Groups Professionals Press
 
ACCESS & TRANSPORT DISCOVER LILLE GUIDED VISITS YOUR STAY RESTAURANTS GOING OUT BOOKING LINKS FAQ

NEWSLETTER
Register and discover Lille's main events !
 

LILLE CITY TOUR
Every day, every hour, all year round! Nothing is more pleasant than travelling around the city...
 

CONGRESS
If you are taking part in a congress, we can help you to book your hotel room.
 

VISIT THE BELFRY
Discover Lille from a unique point of view....
 
 
 

HOME \ FAQ \ The big events

   
 lille3000 EUROPE XXL : 14.03.2009 > 12.07.2009
  In the city of Lille and on both sides of the cross-border region, events, exhibitions, artworks installed in the urban environment, shows and "Midi-Midi" weekends will take the visiting public on a series of day and night journeys to different cities and cultures from the far flung and sometimes mysterious edges of Europe, such as Istanbul, Berlin, Riga, Tallinn, Vilnius, Budapest, Bucharest, Warsaw, Ljubljana, Belgrade, Zagreb, Sarajevo, Moscow...

Opening parade: 14th March 2009
 
  Istanbul - Lille Fine Art Museum
The only city to sit astride two continents, Istanbul is a frontier town at the apex of seas, cultures, religions and peoples. Coveted by the great powers of history, the city brings together both similar and strikingly different populations.
It reveals endless lines of fracture between two extremes (West and East), between secularism and religion. A city of migrants, revolutions and the systematic re-writing of history.
This exhibition aims to give an idea of the dynamic exchanges of artists, their mobility, the processes of change and how this networking can easily extend beyond questions of borders.
Free with the City Pass!
 
  Invisible borders - Tri Postal in Lille
The Tri Postal presents several young art curators from Croatia, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Lithuania to bring their singular vision of the new Europe on the move within its "invisible borders". The choice of artists and works will help to transform our clichéd views and reveal the astonishing energies of the East.
A great fresco by Rumanian artist Dan Perjovschi will be painted on the walls of the ground floor of the Tri Postal. Upstairs, a number of exhibitions will present a total of a hundred works by the most promising and the most experienced artists of the last decade, representing 23 different nationalities.
Free with the City Pass!
 
  Hypnos - Hospice Comtess Museum in Lille
Hypnos will explore the encounter between the unconscious and modernity, by embracing two of the main aspects of the Greater Lille Modern Art Museum's collection (Modern Art and Outsider Art). The exhibition will evoke relations between artists, writers, film directors and intellectuals from Western, Central and Eastern Europe. Cinematographic, literary and musical references are associated with paintings, drawings and sculptures.
Free with the City Pass!
 
  And also:
Miroir d'orients - Lille Fine Art Museum
Dada East - Tourcoing Fine Art Museum
Vidéos Europa - Le Fresnoy
Panorama 11 - Le Fresnoy
Ici Berlin - La Condition Publique
...
Midi-Midi:
27-29 March 2009: Berlin
10-12 April 2009: Baltic states
22-24 May 2009: Warsaw
5-7 June 2009: Moscow
26-28 June 2009: Budapest/Bucharest
3-5 July 2009: Istanbul/Balkans

More information about lille3000!
 
 Lille Art Fair : From 3rd to 6th April 2009
  A major new European event for contemporary art enthusiasts, Lille Art Fair welcomes you to over 10,000m² of exhibition space with 80 European galleries exhibiting today's greatest international artists, as well as young galleries presenting new artistic talent.
All these art galleries propose a wide and diverse panorama of contemporary art from the last 50 years: the CoBrA movement, the new School of Paris putting abstract art at the heart of the French capital, Pop Art, Op Art, the New Realists, Minimal art, Conceptual Art, New Figuration, Expressionism, Free Figuration, the cerebral art of the post-Dadaists, fine art photography and video...
Lille Art Fair also has alternate events on offer: Le Fresnoy Arts Institute and its video exhibition, monumental sculpture spaces and other prestigious exhibitions and performances.


Practical information
Lille Grand Palais
1 boulevard des Cités Unies - Lille
Tel.: +33 (0)3 20 14 15 16

More information about Lille Art Fair!
 
 2009 Braderie (Flea Market) : 5 & 6 September
 


Every first weekend of September, Lille is the capital of bargain-hunting!

The Braderie de Lille is Europe’s largest flea market, and certainly one of the most well-known events in France and abroad. Between one and two million visitors stroll up and down the city streets, entertained by music and the numerous performances that take place from 2 pm on Saturday to 11 pm on Sunday. Enjoying a dish of “Moules - Frites” (mussels served with chips) has become a deeply-rooted tradition and is the subject of a contest between the town’s restaurants to see who can build the highest mountain of empty mussel shells!

 

The Lille flea market in figures:

  • 33 continuous hours of treasure hunting, bargaining and fun
  • 100 km of stalls
  • 10,000 exhibitors
  • 1 to 2 million visitors
  • 500 tons of mussels consumed
  • 5,000 participants in the semi-marathon race, on average
The history of the flea market

The flea market’s origins remain a bit of a mystery. In the Middle Ages, servants obtained the right to sell their masters’ old possessions once a year. This custom soon combined with Lille’s fair, where the town’s inhabitants, as well as foreigners, could freely sell their goods.

Moreover, in the 15th century, two poultry merchants had the great idea to “provide meat” for the fair-goers. They obtained the right to sell their products to the passers-by and the buyers who were already numerous at that time. Braden, Flemish for roast, may be the term that gave the flea market its name.

Of course, in French, “brader” also means “to sell at a low price” and it is well known that you can sell and buy anything at the Lille flea market: antiques, clothes, jewellery, decorative objects etc!

Transformed into one gigantic pedestrian zone, the city offers treasure hunters and visitors alike a vast number of stalls and buying opportunities in a friendly atmosphere governed by the rhythm of the swarming crowd. Ever since the Middle Ages, the tradition has lived on, and today, the Lille flea market remains the most awaited event of the fall season.

 

The half-marathon

A half-marathon is held on Saturday morning. About 5,000 runners participate in the various races:

  • The half-marathon starts at 9 am.
  • The 10,000-meter race starts at 11 am.
  • The mini-marathon starts at 11.10 am.
The race begins at the entry of Boulevard de la Liberté.
The race finishes on rue de Paris, in front of the City Hall.
Visit the Lille semi-marathon website!

The flea market by district

Whereas the local shops on the pedestrian streets (rue Neuve, rue de Béthune, rue Sec-Arembault) offer bargain prices on their summer collections, other districts are entirely dedicated to second-hand goods.

 

Antiques (furniture, bibelots, crockery, collections, etc.) can be found on the Esplanade (alongside the Deûle canal, in front of the Champ de Mars). To take a break between bargaining sessions and escape the crowd, there is nothing better than a walk in the Parc de la Citadelle or in the zoo (open from 9 am to 7 pm on Saturday and Sunday, free entry). On the Champ de Mars, the fun fair and its 200 attractions run non-stop on Saturday night, until 5 am Sunday morning!

 

In addition to Boulevard Louis XIV, rue Debierre and rue du Réduit, Boulevard Jean-Baptiste Lebas is exclusively reserved for antiquarians.

 

Nothing compares to the Sunday morning atmosphere in Wazemmes when the flea market blends with the lively, colourful market of the Place de la Nouvelle Aventure.

Along Boulevard Victor Hugo and in the Moulins district (rue d’Arras, rue de Douai, rue de Cambrai et rue de Maubeuge), the inhabitants hold a true garage sale.

 

The narrow streets of Old Lille are divided between the stalls of designer shops and those of private residents.

 

Finally, between the Porte de Roubaix and the Opera, the Arts district welcomes about thirty professional antique dealers from England and Burgundy. You will recognize them by their flags flying on rue Léon Trulin, rue Anatole France, rue des Arts and rue de Roubaix.

 

Practical information

Hours

The flea market is held from 2 pm on Saturday 6 September, to 11 pm on Sunday 7 September.

 

Getting around Lille

During the flea market, the pedestrian is king! Access to the heart of the town is impossible by car. Therefore, it is best to take the train and use public transportation. Regional trains, the subway, buses, and trams will get you where you want to go.

 

The SNCF increases its service, both night and day, for the duration of the flea market by offering an additional 83 TER (regional trains).

Furthermore, passengers will receive 50% off any same-day round trip ticket for Saturday 6 September or Sunday 7 September.

 

The subway runs continuously for the duration of the flea market (including the night from Saturday to Sunday).

A Pass’Braderie (flea market transportation pass), good for unlimited use of public transportation for the 2-day period, is sold at a price of 4.60€. For one-day flea market visitors, a Pass’Journée ticket (3.50 €) allows unlimited one-day travel. For the night owls, the Pass’Soirée, valid from 7 pm to 1 am, costs only 1.50 €!

Parking

Parking is available in the park-and-ride car parks located on the city’s principal access roads. They provide access to the flea market:

  • By subway: Porte des Postes, Porte d’Arras, Saint-Philibert, Cité Scientifique and 4 Cantons car parks
  • By the Citadine bus service: Porte des Postes and Porte de Valenciennes car parks.



 
Contact us  | Newsletter