Lille City
Nicknamed in France the “Capital of Flanders”, Lille and its surroundings belong to the historical region of Romance Flanders, a former territory of the county of Flanders that is not part of the linguistic area of West Flanders. A garrison town (as evidenced by its Citadel), Lille has had an eventful history from the Middle Ages to the French Revolution. Very often besieged during its history, it belonged successively to the Kingdom of France, the Burgundian State, the Holy Roman Empire of Germany and the Spanish Netherlands before being definitively attached to the France of Louis XIV following the War of Spanish Succession along with the entire territory making up the historic province of French Flanders. Lille was again under siege in 1792 during the Franco-Austrian War, and in 1914 and 1940. It was severely tested by the two world wars of the 20th century during which it was occupied and suffered destruction.
A merchant city since its origins and a manufacturing city since the 16th century, the Industrial Revolution made it a great industrial capital, mainly around the textile and mechanical industries. Their decline, from the 1960s onwards, led to a long period of crisis and it was not until the 1990s that the conversion to the tertiary sector and the rehabilitation of the disaster-stricken districts gave the city a different face. Today, the historic center, Old Lille, is characterized by its 17th-century red brick town houses, its paved pedestrian streets and its central Grand’Place. The belfry of the Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) is one of the 23 belfries in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Somme regions that were classified as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in July 2005, in recognition of their architecture and importance to the rise of municipal power in Europe.[9]
The construction of the brand-new Euralille business district in 1988 (now the third largest in France) and the arrival of the TGV and then the Eurostar in 1994 put Lille at the heart of the major European capitals
Population of Lille is about 240K , ranking 10th among cities of France
I made 26 day trip in France and Spain ( Aragon, Andalusia, Balearic and Canary Islands) in Dec 2024- Jan 2025. It included 20 UNESCO World Heritage sites ( WHS) visited, 12 flights, 12 + trains , 13 different overnight destinations, Overall 20000+ photos and video have been recorded
Some videos representing 800+ video on my channel about the majority of 87 countries and 358 UNESCO World Heritage sites that I visited up to date
Louvre, the best Museum of the world: ~2000 images in 7.5 hours; drinking beauty with S22
Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam video
Gallerie dell’ Accademia,Venice: masterpieces from Messina, Bellini, Leonardo to Titian & Veronese
New York City Metropolitan Museum of Arts , the largest museum in USA and the 4-th in the world
Santa Cruz the best Trek in Huaraz, Peru 4 day 52 km 4750 m above see level hiked by Victor, age 6 Video link
Laguna 69, Lake 69, elev. 4600 m; the most scenic lake in Huascaran National Park, Peru Video link https://youtu.be/hpXNJOz3pE0
Peter Bukasov the youngest ever climber to 6893m, Ojos del Salado, the highest volcano age 9 years Video link https://youtu.be/CM1b6pCAZGE
Alice Bukasova, age 11, the youngest girl to climb Ojos del Salado, 6893 m, the highest volcano
Lenin Peak Summit, 7134m, Kyrgyztan-Tajikistan); На вершине Пика Ленина, 7134м, Киргизия-Таджикистан
USA Grand Canyon Rim to Rim Hike: 42 km 17 h by 5 and nearly 7 year old girls with father in one day
Capitol peak the most difficult 14000 ft mountain (4309 m) hiked by any 7 year old girl, NO rope
Ojos Del Salada up to 6400 meters by nine year old girl
The most well rounded girl , Yunona Bukasova; Elbrus, 5642 m at age 9 and math IQ 190, age 10.5
The most well rounded: ultra-endurance of obese man who used to bench-press 163 kg Разносторонний