Main Sights
The Hindenburg Line ran through Valenciennes during World War I, leading to extensive destruction. Valenciennes was again almost completely destroyed during World War II, and has since been rebuilt in concrete.
A few surviving monuments are:
- The façade of the town hall, which managed to survive the bombardments of the war.
- Notre-Dame du Saint-Cordon, to which there is an annual pilgrimage.
- La Maison Espagnole, the remains of the Spanish occupation, which ended in 1678. The building is now used as the town's tourist information office.
- The Dodenne Tower, the remaining part of the mediaeval fortifications after Charles V ordered them reduced.
- Théâtre le Phenix, a theatre and performing arts venue constructed in 1998.
- The "Beffroi", a large, pin-like monument 45 metres (148 ft) in height, built in 2007 on the site of the former belfry.
Read more about this topic: Valenciennes
Famous quotes containing the words main and/or sights:
“Sinclair Lewis is the perfect example of the false sense of time of the newspaper world.... [ellipsis in source] He was always dominated by an artificial time when he wrote Main Street.... He did not create actual human beings at any time. That is what makes it newspaper. Sinclair Lewis is the typical newspaperman and everything he says is newspaper. The difference between a thinker and a newspaperman is that a thinker enters right into things, a newspaperman is superficial.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“O Lord, methought what pain it was to drown,
What dreadful noise of waters in my ears!
What sights of ugly death within my eyes!”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)